Visakhapatnam:
Union Minister for RuralDevelopment Jairam Ramesh appealed to Maoists to shunviolence and join mainstream politics.
"The Naxalites should abandon path of violence and comeforward to join active politics to contest (elections)...India is the country of Mahatma Gandhi and Gautham Buddha andevery Indian should follow their path of peace," Ramesh said.
He was addressing a public meeting at Chintapalli in theVizag agency area.
Ramesh along with his ministerial colleague and PanchayatRaj Minister V Kishore Chandra Deo inaugurated as many as 59multipurpose halls constructed across eleven tribal mandals inthe district under the MPLADS.