Ahead of the March 31 deadline set by the Centre, as many as 130 Maoists including some women cadre surrendered before Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy here on Saturday.
As part of the surrender process, the cadres handed over 124 firearms, including one LMG, 31 AK-47 rifles and 21 INSAS rifle and over 5,200 live ammunition of various calibre, the highest in recent times in the country with respect to the quality and numbers of arms surrendered by the PLGA (People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army).
Chief Minister A Revath Reddy made an appeal to underground ultras, including Muppala Lakshmana Rao, commonly known as Ganapathi, who is believed to be a top leader, to surrender and join the mainstream. The CM further said perhaps this is the first instance in which Maoists in such a large number gave up arms and surrendered.
Revanth Reddy, appealing to underground Maoists to join the mainstream, said as many as 721 Maoists have surrendered in Telangana since January 2024.
Of the 130 surrendered ultras of various ranks, 125 belong to Chattisgarh, four are from Telangana, and one from Andhra Pradesh, DGP B Shivadhar Reddy said.
“Now there is no Telangana state committee of Maoists. It had completely vanished,” the DGP told reporters.
The surrender of weapons has significantly weakened the operational and combat capability of the CPI (Maoist) in the region and put an end to prolonged insurgency in the Central Regional Bureau (CRB) area, the DGP said.
The surrendered Maoists symbolically handed over their weapons to the chief minister.
The surrendered Maoists belonged to the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), which has now completely lost its existence, the DGP said.”I am calling upon Ganapathi, who is underground, along with the other Central Committee members, to surrender. Join the mainstream of public life and become partners in the reconstruction of Telangana,” he said.
He further said he recently met the former Maoist leaders DevuJi, Damodar, and other Central Committee members, who presented some proposals, such as increasing the financial package and agricultural land to the surrendered ultras and that the CM took the same to the notice of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Asserting that the Congress government is sympathetic and positive towards the Naxalites, Reddy said that if necessary, a committee will be formed to review pending cases against the Maoists and look into the possibility of withdrawing within the limits of the law.
“The State Government is sympathetic towards the Naxals and ready to solve the issues. The government is ready to provide a financial package to the surrendered Naxals, and a decision will be taken in this regard soon. The government is ready to take the responsibility of providing better medical care to the surrendered Naxalites. The union government already gave freedom to the state government to provide healthcare, financial help and housing for the surrendered,” he said.A ballot is more powerful than bullets to solve the issues, CM Revanth Reddy said and noted that India strongly believes the problems can be solved through peaceful means.
The total eligible reward amount of over Rs 4.18 crore rupees will be disbursed to all the 130 surrendered cadres, a press release from the Police said.
On February 24, top Maoist commander and the key “strategist” of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit, Thippiri Tirupati, also known as Devuji, surrendered before the Telangana police, after over four decades of underground life.
Besides Devuji, another central committee member, Malla Raji Reddy, and two other ultras — Bade Chokka Rao @ Jagan and Nune Narasimha Reddy @ Ganganna also laid down their arms.
