By Rabindra Nath Choudhury
Copyright deccanchronicle
RAIPUR: Thippri Tirupati alias Devji (64) has been appointed new general secretary of the CPI (Maoist), intelligence reports have indicated.Devji’s elevation to the post was discussed at the recently held meeting of the Indravati area committee of Maoists in which many senior Naxal leaders attended, a senior police officer quoting the intelligence reports told this newspaper on Tuesday.Devji also has several other Maoist names such as Devuji, Deboji, and Devanna.Devji and another top Naxal cadre Mallujola Venugopal, both are politburo and Central Committee (CC) members of Maoists, were the key contenders for the highest post of the Maoist outfit in the aftermath of the encounter killing of Basavaraju in Abujhmad under Narayanpur district in south Bastar of Chhattisgarh on May 21 this year.A senior counterinsurgency officer has however said Devji’s elevation to the post is yet to be declared by Maoists, officially.“But such a development is being discussed among the top-level Maoist cadres”, the police officer said, unwilling to be quoted.Devji hails from undivided Karimnagar in Telangana district.He heads the Central Military Commission (CMC) of Maoists, besides being the member of two key bodies of the Naxal outfit, politburo and CC.He is considered a hardline-strategist and carried a reward of Rs one crore.He is credited to create the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA)’s first armed platoon and was believed to have masterminded the 2010 Tadmetla and the 2007 Rani Badla attacks on security personnel in which 76 CRPF jawans and 55 security personnel were killed respectively.“Speculation of Devji being appointed as CPI (Maoist) general secretary after the killing of Basavaraju is currently making rounds. But there is no clarity about it yet. It will hardly make any difference to the Maoist outfit who will head it since the outlawed organization is now collapsing and inching toward extinction”, Bastar range inspector general of police P Sunderraj told this newspaper.He said the Moist outfit is now in complete disarray due to the killing, surrender and retirement of many senior cadres.Besides, the banned outfit is currently dogged by intense infighting among the senior cadres to grab the key posts.In another development, Madvi Hidma, the CC member of Maoists, has been appointed secretary of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), considered the most powerful formation of the Maoists.Hidma, hailing from Puvarti village under Sukma district in Bastar in Chhattisgarh, is the first Naxal cadre from Bastar to be elevated to the position. Sources said some senior Maoist cadres from Telangana were also vying for the post but the local Koya cadres in Bastar had put their foot down refusing to accept their Telugu seniors in the position.
