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New Delhi: With the elimination of two more CPI (Maoist) central committee members – Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy alias Kosa and Katta Ramchandra Reddy alias Raju – by security forces on Monday in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district, the strength of the outfit’s top decision-making body has shrunk by half in the current year, to just 10 members now.The neutralisation of the Maoists drew praise from home minister Amit Shah, who on X said, “Our security forces are systematically dismantling the top naxal leadership, breaking the backbone of red terror”. The killings reflect the govt’s and counter-Naxal forces’s stand on dealing firmly with Maoists, notwithstanding the Sept 15 statement by CPI(Maoist) central committee member Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu, under the nom de guerre ‘Abhay’, offering to lay down arms and seeking a temporary halt to counter operations.Sonu’s peace move has now been disowned by the CPI (Maoist) central committee, politburo, Dandakaranya special zonal committee (DKSZC), in a joint statement dated Sept 20 as “his individual decision”, not reflecting the view of the party that favours continuation of “armed struggle”. Earlier, the Telangana state committee too had distanced itself from Sonu’s statement.Stating that Sonu had cleverly misrepresented the May 7 opinion of then general secretary Basavaraju on laying down arms, the latest statement – also signed by ‘Abhay’, a generic name used by any CPI(Maoist) spokesperson – discloses that a subsequent discussion in the core group had led to a rethink, with the military wing, PLGA, and ‘rebel cadre’ being instructed to continue their armed struggle. The statement – the veracity of which is still being established though senior officers said it appears authentic – called the suggestion of Sonu to consult all CPI(Maoist) formations on talks an “evil move to break the party”. “Laying down arms and surrendering before the enemy means converting CPI(Maoist) from a revolutionary outfit to a revisionist outfit…Sonu has no right to digress from the basic line of the party,” it said.Since Jan 19, 2025 – when central committee leader Chalapathi was neutralised in Gariaband, Chhattisgarh – his colleagues in the apex panel have fallen one after the other. Vivek Manjhi was eliminated in an encounter in Jharkhand on April 21, followed by the ‘big kill’ – that of general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju in Narayanpur on May 21. In June, Thentu Lakshmi alias Sudhakar was neutralised in Chhattisgarh and Gajarla Ravi in Andhra Pradesh. In Sept alone, four central committee members have been eliminated – Modem Balakrishnan alias Bhaskar on Sept 11 in Gariaband, Sahdev Soren on Sept 14 in Jharkhand, and on Monday, Kadari Reddy and Katta Reddy. Another central committee member Sujatha had surrendered before the Telangana Police this month.As of today, CPI(Maoist) has four surviving politburo members – general secretary Thippiri Tirupathi @ Devji, Sonu, Ganapathy and Misir Besra – who are also in the central committee. The other ‘active’ central committee members are Pulluri Prasad Rao alias Chandranna, Ganesh Uikey, Anal Da, Malla Raji Reddy, Ramder and Madvi Hidma.
