Maoists gun down TDP MLA from Araku

Visakhapatnam: In a major outrage in broad daylight, the outlawed CPI (Maoists) activists gunned down the government whip and Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma at Lippittiputtu village in Dumbriguda mandal in the agency area of Visakhapatnam district at noon on Sunday.

According to the police and other sources, the two people's representatives visited the village as part of Grama Darsini programme to resolve the problems the residents were facing. For some time, they interacted with them and were about to leave when about 60 Maoists, about of half of them women, surrounded them with fire arms and shot them dead after an argument with them.

The police believe that the Andhra Orissa Border (AOB) CPI (Maoist) secretary Ramakrishna engineered the attack, while the Koraput dalam of the Maoists carried out the operation.

The police, after the outrage, rushed more teams of Greyhounds to the agency where they have intensified combing for the Maoists who are on the run. When the news of the ghastly attack spread like wildfire, tension built up in the Araku Assembly segment with the followers of the two people’s representatives and their family members descending on Dumbriguda and Araku police stations.

They ransacked the Dumbriguda police station and set fire to about 60 two wheelers parked on its premises, furious over the failure of the police in protecting the lives of the two leaders. The police tried to quell the trouble, but they fought back. The agitators beat up one constable, causing injuries to him.

Locals alleged that though the police were informed about the Grama Dharsini programme of the MLA, no security was provided to him, which the police later denied. The police said that though they had advised Sarveshwara Rao on September 21, not to venture into the agency areas without giving prior information to the local police, the MLA had ignored it.

The police are understood to have submitted a report to the Chief Minister’s Office that the arson at the Dumbriguda police station took place on instigation of the YSRCP workers and that they were getting ready to take action against them.

The police said the Maoists, after surrounding the two leaders with weapons entered into an argument with them over mining for pebbles in the area. They argued with them as to why they were carrying out mining knowing fully well that it was harming the environment.

They demanded that the MLA should immediately shut it down. Visveshwara Rao, however, urged them to come for talks for resolution of the issue and that it was not proper for them to detain them and demand answers from him at gun point. Enraged over this, the Maoists opened fire at him and Soma, killing both of them on the spot.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who was on his way to the US, reviewed the situation with officials. He urged the people to exercise restraint. On instructions from the Chief Minister, Energy Minister K Kala Venkata Rao rushed to the spot to defuse the situation.

The police are worried over the Maoists resorting to the killing of the people's representatives after lying low for a very long time. The Maoists are suspected to have shifted to neigbouring state after the heat increased on them with the state deploying Greyhounds forces.

The last killing that took place was that of M Venkata Raju, husband of former Tribal Welfare Minister M Manikumari in 2004. Since then, it was the Maoists who were at the receiving end. Scores of them had died in encounters and many had surrendered before the police.