An eerie silence prevails in the Visakha Agency, including Maoist-stronghold mandals such as Pedabayalu and G. Madugula, and this is worrying the security forces, as the local body polls for MPTC, ZPTC and sarpanch posts are about a week away.
Apart from the unusual lull, the conspicuous absence of key leaders such as Akkiraju Haragopal alias Ramakrishna alias RK and Chalapathi from the cut-off area on the Andhra Odisha Border, is another reason that is compelling the security forces to keep their fingers crossed.
Both RK and Chalapathi, who were leading the Maoist operations in AOB region, have been away for quite some time. Sources say they may be in Chhattisgarh to attend a high-profile strategic meeting of the Maoist top leardeship.
Whenever, there was a lull and top leaders went missing, something big followed.
The Maoist had gone silent after the October 2016 Ramaguda encounter, in which over 30 cadres were killed in one single encounter with the Greyhounds. But they struck back in September 2018 by killing Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma. “Similarly, the Balimela ambush in June 2018, in which 38 police personnel were killed by Maoists, was preceded by an unusual lull for a few months,” said a senior police officer.
Elections
Election is the time when the Maoists try to bounce back through violence, especially during the local body polls. All the 300 polling booths in the 11 mandals have been identified as affected or critical or hyper-critical.
Local body polls are different from general elections. And in the past it is seen that the Maoists had held considerable sway and had indulged in violence, including triggering landmines, snatching ballot boxes and even killing candidates.
Morale high
But this time the morale of the security forces is high and many officers feel that this will keep the Maoists at bay. As per the initial assessment by the security experts, the presence of ‘boots on ground’ is not only on the higher side, but the forces have made deep forays in the LWE-affected areas.
“The coming up of four armed out posts in the recent times, especially the two in the Maoist strongholds of Rudakota and Nuramati, have increased our visible presence in the region, including in hostile pockets such as Injari and Gummarevula,” said Superintendent of Police, Visakhapatnam, Attada Babujee.
The surrender of any many senior cadres, including one divisional committee member and five area committee members in the last one year and many militias, has also weakened the organisation in the region.
Apart from area domination by the forces, the recent strikes deep into the Maoist pockets, have boosted the morale of the forces and have hit the Maoist hard. “The killing of five top Maoist cadres in Gummarevula panchayat in GK Veedhi in September last, and at least four close encounters for their top leaders including Gajarla Ravi alias Uday, Aruna and RK, in the last one year, has put them on the backfoot and pushed them to the 1,500-sq km area in the cut-off region. But we have kept our eyes and ears open,” said a senior officer from the intelligence wing.
Tribal base
The officers are confident that the Maoists may not be able to do something big, as their tribal base is also dwindling. They feel that the tribal people are now welcoming the government schemes, as it is reaching them now, and development has put Maoist ideology in the back burner.
They are hoping that tribal support and area domination by the forces would prevent the Maoists from any misadventure.
