Hyderabad/New Delhi, Jan. 18: The breakdown of peace talks between the Andhra Pradesh government and the Maoists has triggered panic in Nizamabad, Warangal and Karimnagar districts even as the Centre has nudged the state to bring the rebels back to the talks table.

For almost a week now, Ramulu, Gangamani, Yeranna and Manohar, from Biknoor in Nizamabad, have stayed away from their village home anticipating violence would erupt if the talks broke down.

?I am caught between the devil and the deep sea. If I support the rebels, police will pick me up. If I support the police, the rebels will threaten my family,? said Gangamani, now holed up at the legislators? quarters here with several other rural leaders like him.

Following the breakdown, several mandal chiefs have quit their posts and are on the run. Most of them are here, vowing not to return till the problem is resolved.

Fear of a rebel backlash has made 52 of Warangal district?s rural elected leaders desert their homes. In Karimnagar, 41 leaders quit their posts and fled to the district headquarters for security.

Last month, some rural leaders from Karimnagar came here along with Congress MLA D. Sridhar Babu to urge chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy not to let the peace process falter. Most belong to the Telengana Rashtra Samiti and quit their posts last night.

Security has been beefed up at airports, bus stands, railway stations, government installations and commercial complexes after the extremists called a state bandh for Thursday.

In Delhi, the Centre has nudged the Andhra government to bring the Naxalites back to the talks table, but has promised to back the state government all the way irrespective of the route it takes.

But home minister Shivraj Patil made it clear he prefers the peace route. ?Dialogues have succeeded in the past. One should try to make it successful.?