Bhubaneshwar:
NDTV has learnt that there may be talks with Maoists in Orissa through mediators as early as Sunday to secure the release of Malkangiri's District Collector R Vineel Krishna and a junior engineer.
In a four-page letter issued to media houses late last night, the Maoists have named three people as mediators. This has led authorities to believe that the Maoists have extended the 48-hour deadline they had set when they kidnapped the two men.
The letter also spells out seven demands for their release. Top among those demands are the withdrawal of Central forces from Malkangiri, a complete end to Operation Greenhunt, and the release of arrested Maoists.
The Maoists also say that Vineel Krishna has been a part of the 'repressive regime' in Orissa, and is therefore, not above the board despite claims that he was working for the poor.
The letter, faxed to media houses in Orissa, is the first confirmation that the abduction has been carried out by the CPI Maoists.
One of the mediators that the Maoists have asked for is professor Hargopal from the Central University, Hyderabad.
Speaking to NDTV professor Hargopal appealed to the Maoists to give more time for possible negotiations and not harm the Collector.
"My first appeal to the Maoists is that the deadline has to be extended because this is too short a time for the complexity and number of demands they've put forward. I will also appeal that they should not harm him because loss of life on either side is always very tragic," said Hargopal.
The junior engineer's mother also made an appeal to the Maoists for the safe release of her son.
"His father left us when the kids were very young. I request you to release my kid as without him we have no life. He is my eldest son and the only earning man in the family. I have got two small children to look after. Please, I request you to release the collector and my son," said junior engineer's mother.
Meanwhile, the Orissa Assembly witnessed unruly scenes today with the Opposition demanding Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's resignation over the abduction of the Collector.
Opposition members raised slogans against Patnaik and displayed banners and posters ridiculing the government's failure to protect collectors and government officers.
Some of them climbed to the Speaker's podium and gheraoed him for over ten minutes leading to a scuffle with security personnel. The Speaker was forced to adjourn the House.
The state government yesterday halted anti-Maoist operations throughout Orissa. They also said they were ready to talk to the Maoists.
Krishna was kidnapped by Maoists on Thursday when he was returning after an interaction programme in Gumma block of tribal-dominated Malkangiri district. The Maoists then set a 48-hour deadline for the Central forces to be withdrawn from the district and their jailed cadres released.
The incident happened just two days before Home Minister P Chidambaram's scheduled video-conference with the Collectors of 60 Maoist-hit districts. This is the first time that the Maoists have kidnapped an IAS officer, indicating a possible change of strategy to now target senior government officers.
Thirty-year-old Vineel Krishna, an IIT-Madras graduate, joined Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 2005. In the last 16 months of his posting in Malkangiri, Krishna was trying to win over the tribals, alienated by years of government apathy. He had realised that the Maoist battle is impossible to win, and all development plans hopeless without the support of the tribals.
Sources say the Maoists are scouting Orissa districts for establishing new bases. Orissa police has very little presence in Malkangiri, a Naxal-dominated district. Maoists use a passage through the southern-most Orissa town of Motu here to travel from Chhattisgarh to Andhra Pradesh. They also use the area as a corridor to crossover to the thickly-forested areas of Andhra.