The six-day hostage drama in Orissa took a new turn on Wednesday with Dandapani Mohanty, one of the three names proposed by the rebels to act as interlocutors, suggesting the state government to choose one from among Kobad Ghandy, Amit Bagchi and Narayan Sanyal to assist in the negotiation process.
All the three persons proposed by Mr Mohanty are CPI (Maoist) central committee members and are currently lodged in various jails of the country.
There was no immediate response from the state government on Mr Mohanty’s proposal.
Ghandy is currently incarcerated in Tihar Jail. Amit Bagchi is a member of the CPI (Maoist)’s politburo and Central Military Committee and currently lodged in Vizag jail in Andhra Pradesh. Similarly, Narayan Sanyal is serving a life imprisonment sentence in Chhattisgarh.
“I’m ready to participate in the negotiation process. However, the government should show promptness to begin the process of negotiation by appointing interlocutors as suggested by the rebels,” Mr Mohanty, who played a crucial role in solving the 2011 hostage crisis involving R. Vineel Krisna, ex-collector of Malkangiri, said.
The Maoist had initially offered the names of Dandapani Mohanty, Biswapriya Kanungo and Narayan Sanyal as their representative to hold talks with the government.
However, Biswapriya Kanungo showed his unwillingness, while the Orissa CM said his government could not accept Sanyal as he is a convict and serving a jail term. Following the CM’s request, the rebels had offered two more alternative names.