Hyderabad, Oct. 2: The People?s War Group today nominated three of its top leaders to hold peace talks with the Andhra Pradesh government.

The largest and most dreaded extremist Left organisation had indicated last week that it would hold initial talks with government representatives at the state secretariat here on October 13.

Today, it named state PWG committee secretary Ramakrishana alias A. Hargopal, Sudhakar alias M. Balakrishna and Ganesh alias G. Ravi to represent it at the talks. Sudhakar is the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh-Orissa border special zonal committee and Ganesh a member of the North Telengana special zonal committee.

Ramakrishna, the eldest among the trio, has been involved in more than 16 cases of kidnap, murder and assault and carried a cash reward of Rs 12 lakh on his head. Sudhakar and Ganesh, who were involved in seven and five such cases, respectively, carried a Rs 10 lakh prize. But as a goodwill gesture to create a conducive atmosphere ahead of the talks, the Andhra government last June announced the withdrawal of cash awards on extremists to try and end encounter killings by police.

Ramakrishna said in a statement that PWG leaders are prepared for talks if and when they are provided safe passage.

The outfit?s top brass will attend a martyrs? memorial meeting at Guttikondabilam in Guntur district on October 11th ? Charu Mazumdar and other Naxalite leaders launched the Srikakulam movement from this village in the early 1960s.

After surfacing for this meeting, the trio will be treated as state guests till the talks are completed, with the government taking responsibility for their safety.

The Andhra government has announced a nine-member team for the talks. The Jana Shakti and a small Naxalite outfit are yet to nominate team members.

The Naxalite emissaries are scheduled to meet state home minister K. Jana Reddy on Monday to finalise the agenda and modalities.