Surrendered CPI (Maoist) senior member Bhupathi
NAGPUR: Red fury has turned inward. The central committee of the banned CPI (Maoist) has lashed out at its own politburo senior Mallojula Venugopal Rao, alias Bhupathi or Sonu, branding him a “revolutionary traitor” and “counter-revolutionary” for allegedly engineering a “historic betrayal” – the mass surrender of 61 Maoist cadres in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli on Oct 15. That surrender, hailed by Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis as the “beginning of the end” of Naxalism, saw 50 weapons handed to security forces. In a press release dated Oct 16, the Maoists condemned it as a “party-breaking act” that returned “lethal tools to the enemy”. Bhupathi’s public defection has triggered a storm inside the outlawed outfit’s top brass. The Maoist central committee, led by its elusive leadership under the pseudonym Abhay, expelled Bhupathi, Vivek (a Dandakaranya special zone committee member), Deepa, and 10 divisional committee members, calling on “revolutionary masses” to deliver “appropriate punishment”. Yet, in a contradictory tone, the committee extended an olive branch to the surrendered cadres: “We assure them that such people will pose no threat and can return to the party.” It warned Bhupathi and Satish – Dandakaranya commander Rupesh alias Takkalapalli Vasudev Rao, who led another mass surrender of 210 PLGA fighters in Chhattisgarh – to stop “counter-revolutionary activities” allegedly carried out under govt intelligence patronage. Security agencies view the fiery denunciation as a desperate attempt to stem collapsing morale.
