By IANS
Raipur : A majority of Chhattisgarh legislators Thursday urged the state government to wage a decisive war against Maoist rebels as a special assembly session debated the rise in left-wing violence especially in Bastar region.
The four-hour special session, which began at 11 a.m., held extensive parleys about the Maoist violence in the vast hilly and mineral rich part of Chhattisgarh, India's ninth largest state in area but the worst among the 13 states affected by rebel activities.
Mediapersons were not allowed to cover the special session and only three top officers, Chief Secretary Shivraj Singh, Principal Secretary (Home) S.V. Prabhat and Director General of Police Vishwaranjan, sat in the officers' gallery.
Members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Chief Minister Raman Singh and opposition members led by Leader of Opposition Mahendra Karma put their heads together to chalk out a strategy to put curbs on extremists who are ruling the roost in the interiors of tribal-dominated Bastar region.
"Majority of MLAs were of the view that the state government should modernise the police force in the Maoist bastion and launch deadly attacks on their hideouts," a BJP legislator told IANS on condition of anonymity.
He added that many legislators, mostly from opposition benches, urged the BJP government to seek help from the central government to launch aerial attacks on rebels who take shelter in Bastar's thick forests.
The special session was convened in the backdrop of several cold-blooded killings of civilians, policemen and special police officers (SPOs) by Maoists during past three years including the massacre of 55 cops in March this year and brutal killings of 24 policemen early this month in Bastar region.