Tuesday’s encounter in Sukma in which nine Maoists were killed, has almost dashed the hopes of Maoist think-tank to revive the armed struggle in Telangana districts, once a bastion of the naxalite movement.
Seven of the Maoists slain in the fierce gun battle belonged to the Khammam-Karimnagar-Warangal (KKW) divisional committee, which was entrusted with the onerous job of making inroads into the North Telangana districts. The three districts are extremely important as they share borders with southern Chhattisgarh, where the revolutionary movement is in a strategic offensive stage.
For the Maoist think-tank, the only hope of reviving the extremist movement in Andhra Pradesh was through incursions in Karimnagar, Khammam, and Warangal bordering Chhattisgarh or through the agency areas of East Godavari and Visakhapatnam, which share borders with Orissa, where the Maoist movement is significantly strong. Though Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts too share borders with Orissa, the Maoists not very active in the border areas of these two districts. Adilabad, is another district which shares borders with Gadchiroli side of Maharashtra.
The Maoist party pinned its hopes on the KKW division committee for implementing its grand plan to revive the revolutionary movement in Telangana. Strategically, the KKW committee and the squads under its command confined themselves to areas in Chhattisgarh borders because of the relative safety they enjoyed, but were moving into Khammam, Karimnagar and Warangal forest areas.
The only other possibility of rebuilding the Naxalite movement in Andhra Pradesh was ordering the underground cadres in Orissa to move into the agency areas in East Godavari and Visakhapatnam.
But the series of setbacks the Naxalite movement suffered in Orissa recently, made the Maoist leaders to depend mainly on the KKW committee, which has been eliminated now in Tuesday’s encounter.
“With the KKW committee being eliminated now, it will take at least five years for the Maoists to build the cadre again,” a senior police officer analysed.
Six hail from Warangal
Of the nine bodies of Maoists recovered in the Sukma encounter, seven were identified. Of these, six hailed from Warangal and the seventh from Karimnagar district. The KKW division committee was led by Marri Ravi alias Sudhakar, who hailed from Seetharampur village in Ghanpur mandal of Warangal district.
The others were: Guguloth Laxmi alias Pushpa, Rampally village in Bhupalpalli mandal; Etti Narsakka alias Sabitha of Gogupalli village; Jangoan Raju alias Durgam Raju, Buttaigudem; Seetha alias Navatha of Puredipallly (all in Eturunagarn mandal); Ajay alias Bheema, Kousettivai village in Tadvai mandal (all in Warangal district); and Arelli Venkati of Khanapur village in Manthani mandal of Karimangar.
Meanwhile, four SLRs, one carbine, two .303 rifles, two Insas weapons, one pistol, a tapancha and a SBBL were recovered from the encounter site.
