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Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad
Two emissaries of outlawed People's War -- revolutionary writer Varavara Rao and balladeer Gaddar -- reacted angrily to the 'encounter killing' of top underground leader Padmakka and three others in Karimnagar district on Tuesday.
The emissaries, who represented the PW in three rounds of talks held with two government representatives and ministers last month, strongly condemned Tuesday's killings and demanded a judicial probe into the incident.
In a statement in Hyderabad, Varavara Rao and Gaddar termed the incident as 'a fascist encounter' and said it was clear that the government was not going to stop combing operations, encounter killings and other repressive measures as it wanted to scuttle the talks.
While the PW wanted the government to declare a ceasefire from Tuesday and name a 14-member supervisory committee to create conducive atmosphere to facilitate talks, the government was indulging in 'provocative killings', the duo said.
They described Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's statement that the police would not be 'mute spectators', if the Naxalites moved around carrying arms, as 'provocative'.
"Such utterances prove that the spirit of ceasefire has gone with the wind," they said.
Meanwhile, the police said that Padmakka (whose real name was Nelkonda Rajitha) was the wife of PW central organising committee member Prasad.
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