Telangana Maoist leader Venugopal backs laying down arms amid stepped-up police drive

Hyderabad, Sep 27 (PTI) Against the backdrop of intensified anti-Maoist operations, particularly in Chhattisgarh, a section of the CPI (Maoist) is reportedly in favour of laying down arms, while others want to continue the “armed struggle,” Telangana Intelligence sources said on Saturday.

Senior CPI (Maoist) leader Mallojula Venugopal, a native of Telangana, is said to support laying down arms.

The internal conflict within the proscribed organisation surfaced after a letter, reportedly issued last month by Venugopal, called for “temporarily renouncing armed struggle” and “laying down arms.” The CPI (Maoist) central committee dismissed the letter as his personal view.

Thippiri Tirupathi, alias Devji, also from Telangana, assumed charge as the CPI (Maoist) General Secretary earlier this month.

Venugopal, alias Sonu, is understood to have cited support from a few other leaders, though some, including Central Committee member Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy, were killed in recent encounters with security forces, the sources said.

Police sources said the faction favouring the continuation of armed struggle may not succeed if security forces gain the upper hand.

Venugopal is the younger brother of Maoist leader Mallojula Koteshwar Rao, alias Kishanji, who was killed in an encounter with police in West Bengal in 2011.

Kishanji’s wife, Padmavati, surrendered to Telangana police on September 13.

A recent police release said that of the 15 Central Committee members of the CPI (Maoist), 10 are natives of Telangana. PTI SJR GDK SJR SSK