Bhubaneswar: A prominent pro-naxalite leader yesterday (Sep 15, 2004) warned tribals in Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh could ask for a separate Vishal Dandakaranya State if the Governments did not address the problems faced by them.

We are supporting the demand for a separate Telangana State in Andhra Pradesh and if the tribals' demand for a separate State for themselves, we'll support that as well, Y Varvara Rao, mediator for the CPI-ML(Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist) Peoples' War in the talks with the Andhra Pradesh Government, said.

The problems tribals face are deep-rooted and not isolated issues which require solutions, he told a news conference in Bhubaneswar.

The biggest problem, he said, was that the Governments still visualised naxalite activities as a law and order problem and not as a socio-economic issue, Rao said.

He said he also got this impression during his meeting with Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State secretariat.

Patnaik was accompanied by the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police while officials of revenue and tribal welfare departments were not present. This provided a message that his Government also considered the naxalite issue as a law and order problem, he said.