Advani assures Nagappa family

Nagappa’s wife Parimala, son Pritam, son-in-law Kiran and daughter Pawan, presented a memorandum to Advani requesting urgent measures to secure his release.

Expressing concern that there has been no serious dialogue between the two states at the government and political levels nor any initiative for the last 80 days, Advani told the family members that the Centre was in touch with the chief secretaries and home secretaries of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. He said he would also speak to Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee and convene a meeting with the chief ministers of the two states.

Urban Development Minister Anant kumar, who organised the meeting, said Nagappa’s release was the top priority at present and various measures could be discussed if the two states agreed to meet.

According to him, Advani told Nagappa’s family members that there were two facets to the problem — the safe release of the hostage and Veerappan’s arrest.