The purported ceasefire offer of the banned CPI(Maoist ) has been rejected by the security forces, who see it as a diversionary tactic of the Reds to regroup and carry out attacks, once the anti-Naxal operations slow down.
In the last few days, several reports emerged of the Maoist spokesperson Mallujola Venugopal alias Abhay, writing a letter of truce and expressing willingness to hold talks with the government.
But, sources in the Union Home Ministry said such claims and overtures are neither new nor credible, as the CPI(Maoist) is under pressure and making attempts to divert the attention of the security forces.
“The operations are continuing and there will be no let-up in the chase of the top naxal brass that is roaming free,” said a senior security official.
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It is in continuation of these anti-Naxal operations that two Naxal commanders, Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy and Katta Ramachandra Reddy, were gunned down by security forces in the Abujhmad region of Narayanpur district on the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border on Monday evening.
Both Kadari, 67, and Katta, 63, hailed from Karimnagar in Telangana and spent close to three decades in Maoist ranks and rose to become central committee members actively leading the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, where they unleashed violence across Bastar, Narayanpur, Dantewada and other regions across Chhattisgarh.
The chase is now on for other top Maoist commanders like Madhavi Hidma, leading the PLGA battalion 1, Devji, Bhupati, Bhaskar, and Abhay, who are learnt to have divided tasks after the killing of CPI(Maoist) general secretary Basavaraju earlier this year.
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“With Basavaraju gone, there are multiple power centres that have been created due to factionalism,” said a security official in Chattisgarh.
The latest hit suffered by the Maoists in Abhujmad has pushed the Naxals to the fringes, and continued operations are expected to cause more damage to the Maoists in the coming days and months.