Peace Talks and Terrorism Cannot Go Hand in Hand, Says Venkaiah Naidu

Coimbatore: Maintaining that India wants good neighbourly relationship, Union Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said that Pakistan should stop funding terrorists and cannot expect peace talks when there is continuous firing across the border.

"Peace talks and terrorism cannot go hand in hand," Mr Naidu said while replying to a specific question on the cross-border firing that has intensified at the border.

"India has never initiated an attack or been the aggressor but they (Pakistan) should give up the attitude of intimidating," he said.

When asked whether Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi's visit to Nepal, Bhutan and Japan is part of China containment policy, Mr Naidu, denied it, saying that India will establish a friendly relationship with all its neighbours including China. "Even as the government is sensitive to the issues of Tamils in Sri Lanka, India needs to maintain friendly
relationship with Sri Lanka as well as the island nation would incline towards other neighbours," he said.

Calling for a reformist approach for effective urban development, he said that local bodies, the state and the Centre should work together in that direction.

As the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission has ended in March, the government has proposed to launch a mission that will focus on a holistic development, Mr Naidu, who was in Coimbatore to attend an interaction programme called "Meet and Greet", said.

The Swachh Bharat Mission of the Government will soon be a reality and the economy will be rejuvenated with the help of the agencies that have been instituted by the government to unearth black money. Stating that good governance and development is the priority of the government, he said that linking of rivers and housing for all by 2022, will be some of the most ambitious projects.

Under the new government, the GDP growth went to 5.7 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal, as against 4.6 per cent in the corresponding period last year, he added.