Maoist brass thins rapidly due to Centre's push, internal rifts

With six months remaining in the Union governments self-imposed deadline to eliminate Left Wing Extremism (LWE), or Naxalism, the ranks of the CPI (Maoist) have thinned to only three politburo members and 9 central committee members, officials familiar with the matter said.

- Prawesh Lama

Former senior Maoist leader Mallojula Venugopal Rao with Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis at Gadchiroli after his surrender, on Wednesday.

(HT PHOTO)

Of the three politburo members, only two are believed to be active. The third, Mupalla Lakshman Rao, alias Ganapathy, one of the most wanted men in the country, is no longer active, they added, asking not to be named. The assessment is based on a list prepared by security forces in Chhattisgarh.

The officials said that at its peak between 2003 and 2010, the proscribed CPI(Maoist) had around 40-45 central committee members, of which 10-14 were politburo members. The politburo is the highest decision making body of the CPI(Maoist). One politburo member, Mallojula Venugopal alias Bhupathi surrendered before the Maharashtra chief minister along with other cadres on Wednesday.

After the death of CPI(Maoist) general secretary Basavaraju alias Nambala Keshava Rao on May 21, the CPI(M) is a divided house, one of the people said.