Maoists try to defang senior neta who talked of truce

HYDERABAD: The banned CPI (Maoist)'s central committee has ordered senior neta Mallojula Venugopal , 69, to immediately surrender his weapons, warning that People's Guerrilla Army would forcibly seize them if he failed to comply.

Venugopal, also known as Sonu and Bhupati, recently expressed readiness to lay down arms. Party netas dismissed his remarks as false propaganda aimed at weakening the organisation, accu-sing him of using talk of ceasefire and peace as a pretext for surrender. Telangana's Special Intelligence Branch confirmed the committee's instructions but said there was no confirmation of Venugopal's expulsion.

The dispute escalated after a press release dated Aug 15 and attributed to Maoist spokesperson Abhay , suggested the group intended to "temporarily renounce arm-ed struggle" and "lay down arms". The central committee and politburo rejected the stand, insisting it was Venugopal's personal view. Traditionally, statements are issued under the alias Abhay, a role Venugopal assumed after the 2010 encounter killing of spokesperson Cherukuri Rajkumar.

Venugopal has been underground since the late 1970s. A Brahmin from Telangana with a commerce degree, he is regarded more as a political ideologue than a field commander. He is the younger brother of Mallojula Koteshwar Rao, or Kishenji , a politburo member killed in a 2011 encounter in Bengal. Reports in May suggested Venugopal was preparing to surrender and reunite with his wife Tarakka, who earlier gave up arms to Maharashtra police.