A LETTER by the Maoists offering peace talks and a ceasfire to the government, released on April 2, was in the name of 'Abhay', the nom de guerre of the CPI (Maoist) Politburo member Mallojula Venugopal Rao, 69. The letter claimed that discussions had been held by a committee in Hyderabad last month, and that the Maoists would immediately call for a “ceasefire” and initiate peace talks if the security forces stopped setting up police camps and running anti-Naxal operations across Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli, Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana. The government remains sceptical about the talks, not the least because of the conditions set for them. 'Abhay', in whose name the offer has come, is a senior Maoist leader and the younger brother of Mallojula Koteswara Rao, popularly known as Kishenji, who was killed in an encounter in West Bengal in November 2011. 'Abhay' also goes by the names Bhupati, Vivek, Rajan, and Sonu. Apart from being a CPI (Maoist) Politburo member, he is part of its 'Central Military Commission' and the outfit's spokesperson. The brothers belong to the Peddapalli district in Telangana and were brought up in a family of freedom fighters with modest means. The anti-establishment sentiment in Telangana in the '70s had led to many student protests and organisations, attracting many to Maoist ideology. Venugopal was part of this wave. While studying at the Government Degree College in Peddapalli, he was accused of setting afire a government bus in a protest against the government, along with Kishenji. As Naxalism grew in Telangana, an underground Communist outfit called People's War was formed in the 1980s. Koteswara joined the organisation first. Venugopal followed. The CPI (M-L), another underground Communist organisation and People's War, merged in September 2004 to form the CPI (Maoist). Through the '90s, Venugopal travelled across the Maoist-dominated areas in various states, carrying out operations, often acting in concert with Kishenji. His stature within the organisation grew along with Kishenji's. Officials say that a pivotal point in Venugopal’s life was his brother’s death, which was part of the anti-Naxal operations of the Congress-led UPA government in 2011. Venugopal then stepped in and took over the party operations in Lalbagh. In December last year, Venugopal's wife Vimala Sidam alias Tara, surrendered before Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Gadchiroli, along with 10 other Maoists. Also from Telangana, Tara had been a member of the CPI (Maoist) for decades and had risen to become a member of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee. Venugopal’s peace talks offer comes amidst the Centre’s crackdown on Naxalites, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah putting a March 2026 deadline to end Left Wing Extremism in the country. Recently, some Maoist leaders are believed to have held a meeting in Telangana’s Bhadradri-Kothagudem district to take stock of the situation. Abhay's letter came days after 86 CPI (Maoist) members surrendered before the Bhadradri-Kothagudem police.
