Hyderabad: In a significant development, People's War Group (PWG) naxals, which had carried out an abortive assassination attempt on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, today (Dec 16, 2003) said it was ready to appear before the inquiry commission, probing the incident, provided the Government lifts ban on it and creates a conducive atmosphere.

"We are prepared to appear before any forum and explain why we had to attack Naidu. Our action is one hundred per cent justified and is in tune with the people's wishes," the PWG said in a statement in Hyderabad.

Expressing no remorse over the assassination bid, the outlawed naxal outfit demanded lifting of ban and withdrawing rewards on its cadres and creating a 'democratic atmosphere' to enable it to appear before any public forum to present its case.

The development comes against the backdrop of the Probe Commission, headed by former Uttar Pradesh DGP Prakash Singh, expressing the view that naxalites could also appear before it.

The one-man Commission has been appointed by the Government to probe security lapses that led to the October 1 attack on Chief Minister at Tirumala foothills.

Dubbing Naidu as an 'agent of World Bank and exploitative landlord class', an unrepentant PWG said, in a statement attributed its Politburo member Prakash, that its guerrillas carried out the attack on him to express public anger over the disastrous consequences of his economic policies.

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