ABSTRACT
Some cabinet ministers want aerial bombing of Dantewada's jungles to kill Maoists. Maoists have flourished in several states but been routed in Andhra Pradesh. Initially, the then Chief Minister Rajasekhara Reddy tried negotiating with the Maoists but found they were merely buying time. The police got additional staff, superior training, arms, vehicles and communications, as in Punjab. In Andhra Pradesh, the new road network was used to set up not just new police stations but the full range of government offices and services. Earlier, when Maoists ruled supreme, most government staff had run away, leaving a vacuum filled by the Naxalites. In the 1990s, MLAs dared not visit Maoist-hit constituencies for fear of death. Since the police have failed in Chhattisgarh, and since another Rajasekhara Reddy cannot be implanted there, Chidambaram has brought in central troops.
