Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda to join AAP: Reports

Zee Media Bureau

Bhubaneswar: As the Bharatiya Janata Party accuses Aam Aadmi Party of following Maoists ideology, reports say that the new political outfit-led by Arvind Kejriwal has offered membership to Odisha`s most wanted Naxal leader Sabyasachi Panda. News reports say that Panda has been negotiating with AAP to get membership since January after he failed to get political patronage from the ruling Biju Janata Dal. Odisha unit chief Nishikanta Mohapatra has said that the party is not opposed to anyone joining it as long as the person is willing to work within its constitutional framework. If AAP welcomes Panda into the party fold, BJP`s stand would be vindicated. BJP`s leaders like Subramanian Swamy and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi have repeatedly stated that the new outfit patronises Maoists ideology. Swamy had last month said that the Kejriwal is by persuasion a naxalite. Last month, Panda managed to give the slip once again after a fire-fight with security forces in a jungle in Odisha`s Ganjam district. The security forces learnt about the camp during a combing operation by the police and district volunteer force in a forested area on the border of Ganjam and Kandhamal districts, police sources said. When the security forces closed in on the camp, the Maoists started firing and Panda escaped, the sources said.