On Tuesday, October 14, Mallojula Venugipal Rao, aka Sonu, a senior CPI (Maoist) official and a member of the Politburo, gave in with 60 Maoist cadres of the group in a major defeat to the outfit in Gadhchiroli in Maharashtra.
Who’s Mallojula Venugopal Rao?
Last week, reports circulating about Sonu, a native of Telangana, quitting the party were spreading. In one of the letters, he had urged cadras to save themselves and not to make meaningless sacrifices, highlighting the schism in Maoists in abandoning arms and entering the mainstream, as reported by CNN-News18.
In his letter, Sonu is quoted as having told his comrades that he was not able to maintain the armed movement in the current realities. Describing the course adopted by the Maoists as totally wrong, he had to regret his inability to halt the fall of the organisation and he attributed the great setbacks to the constant errors made by the leaders.
He is said to have been assisted by the North and West sub-zonal bureaus of the CPI (Maoist), which had stated that they were willing to follow his call and join the mainstream.
Top Maoist Leader Surrenders
On August 15, Venugipal made an oral and also wrote a statement sharing that they were willing to make a ceasefire as per the police. He made another statement which was reportedly issued in September that it (laying down arms) was discussed in the central committee and politburo and voted accordingly, even before the killing of Basavaraju (killed by the security forces in Chhattisgarh on May 21).
Indian security officials regard the move as the culmination of ongoing campaigns led by Home Minister Amit Shah in liaison with the governments of the states, to guarantee the elimination of Naxalism by 2026.
According to Telangana Police Intelligence sources cited by PTI, Telangana Director General of Police B Shivadhar Reddy on October 1, requested the members of the outlawed CPI (Maoists) to give up.
The DGP had indicated that the police would be sympathetic to them and they were not going to harass them. The sources added that they are free to leave the Maoist organisation.
