MP & ex-rebel offers help

Kameshwar Baitha, 54, the JMM MP from Palamu, said the government should involve people like him (who have left the Maoist ranks and joined the mainstream) in bringing the rebels to the negotiating table.

An MP and former Naxalite commander has offered to mediate between the Centre and Maoists.

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Kameshwar Baitha, 54, the JMM MP from Palamu, said the government should involve people like him (who have left the Maoist ranks and joined the mainstream) in bringing the rebels to the negotiating table.

“I will convey the government’s viewpoint to them (Maoists),” said Baitha, who is out on a parole to attend the budget session of Parliament. “The government should also understand and address their concerns.”

Before his arrest near Patna in 2005, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh had announced Rs 5 lakh reward on his head.

He is now against violence. “Violence is bad,” he said.