Andhra to resume talks with Left on land issue

Putting behind the recent political confrontation staged by the Left parties that resulted into the death of seven people, the Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday decided to resume talks with the CPI(M) and CPI over their proposed second phase agitation demanding land and house sites for the poor in the state.

The state Cabinet which met here today discussed the recent developments surrounding the Left agitation, which included forced occupation of lands, protest rallies, picketings and a statewide bandh spanning three months.

While briefing the Cabinet about the future course of action in regard to the ongoing distribution of land and housing programmes, chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy instructed his revenue minister to initiate a dialogue with the Left leaders again.

The chief minister held that there was no difference of opinion between the government and the Left parties as far as the issues of land distribution to landless poor and housing to those who do not own a pucca house in the state were concerned.

"The state government is going ahead on the issue of land and houses in a time bound manner, and this would be implemented accordingly," state information and public relations minister A Ramanarayana Reddy, who briefed the media, said.

The Cabinet has decided to undertake a massive campaign from August 15 on the state government's welfare programmes.