Maoists spurn government overtures, ask people to boycott polls - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Maoist rebels put up posters in Latehar district of Jharkhand, calling upon people to spurn the initiatives of the Prime Minister, the Congress President and the Home Minister. The posters, that had Communist Party of India (Maoist) written below, also asked the people to stay away from the democratic process. "We did not see who pasted these posters. The posters read 'push back Sonia Gandhi and other leaders'," said Virendra, a local villager. The first phase of the polls for Jharkhand Legislative Assembly will begin from November 25. The Maoists have stepped up violence across the eastern and central India and the internal security experts say that this indicates a growing dominance of the insurgents in the country. Maoist rebels regularly attack goods trains and have in the past even hijacked a few local passenger trains in remote districts of the country before fleeing. Last week, the Maoists had hijacked the New Delhi bound Bhubaneswar Rajdhani express which was freed later after a five-hour hostage drama. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has warned the rebels who have managed to retain support among a cross-section of society and have come up as the biggest internal security threat.