Low credibility, hi-tech demand

8216;8216;We have agreed to reinforce the task forces from our respective states. We have also requested the Government of India to assist us with latest interception equipment and surveillance aircraft for intelligence gathering,8217;8217; Krishna told reporters echoing the contents of a similar statement issued by the Tamil Nadu Government.

Asked if the governments would again buckle under pressure from Veerappan like they did when Rajkumar was kidnapped, inviting a severe reprimand from the Supreme Court, Krishna was non-committal.

8216;8216;No two situations are similar. So solutions also can8217;t be the same. We will have to pursue the twin objectives of rescuing Nagappa and going after Veerappan,8217;8217; was all he would say. Krishna, who stressed on 8216;8216;greater coordination between the two STFs at the field level8217;8217;, confirmed that an audio cassette had indeed been sent by Veerappan but said there was nothing new in it.

8216;8216;It was a one minute message. It only repeats what he Veerappan had said earlier,8217;8217; Krishna said in reference to the bandit8217;s criticism of the two governments for not honouring their promise after the release of Rajkumar two years ago.

There was no official word on whether the tape spoke about any particular demand in the wake of reports that the bandit had asked for the release of his supporter and POTA-booked Nedumaran.

In Bangalore, state Home Minister Mallikarjuna Kharge met Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, on a visit for a BJP function, and requested him to send paramlilitary forces and commandos to back the State8217;s efforts to nab the bandit and rescue Nagappa.

Advani assured Karnataka that in view of any 8216;8216;request for assistance in terms of men and material, the Centre would have no hesitation in giving it.8217;8217; Significantly, Kharge seemed to rule out the use of leaders or social activists for negotiations with Veerappan saying that only officials would be entrusted with this job as and when required.

Clearly, much of the pressure in the three-day-old crisis was still on the Karnataka Government but the situation seemed to have been retrieved to a great extent by the 8216;8216;cordial8217;8217; meeting of Jayalalithaa and Krishna in New Delhi.

Still the Janata DalU, which stayed away from Krishna8217;s all-party meeting on Monday, sought to up the ante when its senior leaders demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister and called for the disbanding of the STF.

JDU state president C Byre Gowda and parliamentary board chairman B Somashekhar asked the Krishna administration to ensure that it treated Nagappa8217;s fate with as much concern and care as it did Rajkumar.

The two governments had gone into a slumber before the latest crisis erupted. Once Veerappan freed actor Rajkumar after holding him captive in the jungles for over 100 days two years ago, the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments all but forgot their resolve to arrest the bandit.

Tamil Nadu has spent over Rs 40 crore and Karnataka half of that in the past six years on their anti-Veerappan operations, deploying hundreds of men but without any result.

After Jayalalithaa took over as Tamil Nadu chief minister, she bragged that her favourite cop, Walter Davaram, who was appointed as STF chief, would nab him within 100 days. If she conveniently forgot her promise, Karnataka, relieved that Rajkumar came home free, sat smug in the fact that Veerappan was hiding in the jungles in the territory of Tamil Nadu and so it was helpless.

In fact, Karnataka8217;s approach was so lackadaisical that it even downgraded the post of its STF chief, replacing an officer of IG rank Kempaiah by an officer who only held a DIG rank, an issue which Jayalalitha seized upon to absolve Tamil Nadu of any responsibility for Nagappa8217;s abduction.

Former State DGP C.Dinakar also faulted the Karnataka government for the STF chief8217;s replacement. 8216;8216;If actions indicate the mind, then the government is not serious about catching Veerappan,8217;8217; he said.