Maoists name military unit head as new chief

RAIPUR/NEW DELHI: The banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) announced a new leader on Wednesday, saying Mupalla Laxmana Rao, also known as Ganapathy, was stepping down as its general secretary due to “failing health”.

A statement by the group said Nambala Keshav Rao, also known as Vasavaraju, will take over as the new head.

“In the light of his failing health, the general secretary offered to voluntarily step down to strengthen the central committee. The decision was approved during the fifth meeting of the committee and Vasavaraju has been elected in his position,” said the two-page statement signed by Abhay, spokesperson of the central committee. The statement is dated November 10.

Officials deployed for security operations in Maoist-controlled areas said signs of a change have been visible for about a month and a new leader could lead to an increase in attacks.

“We expect the Maoists to go on the offensive,” said the official, a senior functionary in the security establishment, who asked not to be named.

“Any new chief will try and make his presence felt,” he added.

In the last 50-odd days, more than 70 improvised explosive devices (IED) have been found by security forces – the latest exploded in Visakhapatnam district on Wednesday. Vasavaraju also heads the central military commission, the armed wing of the group.

An IPS officer based in Chhattisgarh said the change could have happened as long as six months ago.

“Vasavaraju was heading the organisation for the last six months but now they have officially taken the decision. He is more aggressive than Ganpathy because he came from the military unit of Maoists,” the officer, posted in Bastar region, said.

Ganapathy is about 70 years old. Vasavaraju is in his early 60s.

“The Maoist movement is on a decline because of pressure from security forces, development projects, and a lack of takers of the Maoist ideology, but improvised explosive devices still remain a threat for us,” the director general of CRPF, KK Bhatnagar, said.

Security and intelligence agencies do not have a fresh picture of Vasavaraju, who also goes by the names of Ganganna, Prakash and Umesh.

More than four intelligence agencies track the Maoist movement, their leaders and over ground workers, including the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the intelligence wing of the Chhattisgarh Police. According to another official, agencies are also not sure if Ganapthy is even alive.

According to inputs with the security establishment, Vasavraju is seen as a hardliner and is known to have trained with Maoists in Nepal.

Ganapathy, a former school teacher, joined the movement during the early 1970s and became the head of the erstwhile Andhra-based CPI(Marxist-Leninist) (People’s War) in 1992.

He continued in this position after this group merged with the erstwhile Bihar-based CPI(Marxist-Leninist) (Party-Unity) in 1998 and the unified CPI(ML)(PW) merged with the Bihar-based Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI) in 2004 to form the CPI(Maoist).

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The Maoist movement is on a decline because of pressure from security forces, development projects, and a lack of takers of the Maoist ideology, but IEDs still remain a threat for us

KK BHATNAGAR, director general of CRPF