Latest Maoist leader to surrender reveals who now heads the rebels

Chandranna surrendered before Telangana Director General of Police B Shivadhar Reddy on Tuesday. He said that he decided to surrender because of “ill health”, but he also added that Operation Kagar — a heightened security offensive against the Maoists — also had a role to play in the recent Maoist surrenders, including that of his own. “On the one hand, I was unwell; on the other, Operation Kagar was underway. So, I decided to surrender,” he said in the press conference.

Along with Chandranna, Telangana state committee member Bandi Prakash also surrendered on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, the Maoist movement was dealt one of its most severe blows when Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu (70), a member of the CPI (Maoist)’s Politburo, surrendered in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli alongside 60 other cadres on October 14.

Days later, as many as 170 Maoists have surrendered in Chhattisgarh. This included Takkalappalli Vasudeva Rao alias Rupesh (59), who is known as the Maoists’ bombmaker and is believed to have orchestrated the attack on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on December 2, 2000.

With Sonu’s surrender, the weight of the movement rests on the shoulders of Devuji (62) and Madvi Hidma alias Santosh (51), both of whom have only headed the military wing of the party or the Central Military Commission (CMC).

Devuji is believed to have taken over as the general secretary in September.

Apart from confirming Devuji’s current role in the party, Chandranna also said that there had been a split within the Maoist party ranks. “There are those who support Sonu and those who support Devuji. I support Devuji,” he said. Dressed in a neatly pressed white shirt and black pants, he added that the party is undergoing “changed circumstances” and claimed that they faced “state repression”.

Chandranna said he had gone underground 40 years ago. He had been a Central Committee member for 15 years.

Originally from Telangana’s Peddapalli district, Chandranna’s father was the head teacher of a school. He completed his class 10 in Peddapalli and went on to earn an undergraduate degree in the sciences. He was part of the Radical Students Union (RSU) and had joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People’s War.

While he had worked with Mallojula Koreswara Rao alias Kishenji, the slain brother of Sonu, who recently surrendered in Maharashtra, he said that within the party, most cadres now support Devuji.

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