Maoist fear forces leaders to flee agency in Andhra

Visakhapatnam: After the assassination of Araku Valley MLA K Sarveswara Rao and former MLA S Soma, several TDP leaders in the agency areas are shifting from their native villages to major towns and Visakhapatnam.

The leaders include former MPTCs, ZPTCs, Panchayat Presidents, former MLAs and other leaders leaving their own villages in the agency. They have now realised that they would be sitting ducks for the Maoists if they continue to live in their villages. After the TDP came to power in the state, the Maoists had issued warnings to several TDP leaders to either voice their disapproval against bauxite mining or face music.

After the Balimela pogrom on June 29, 2008, in which 38 police personnel were killed, the Maoists sent out a message that they are a force to reckon with. Now by killing Sarveswara Rao and Soma they wanted to convey to the government that they were not bluffing when they issued notices to the people's representations. “The police are directing us not move in the areas without their protection.

It is not possible for the police to provide 24/7 protection to all the leaders. As the general elections are ahead, we have to be in the midst of people but our family members are asking us to shift to urban areas,” one of the former mandal parishad president said after shifting to Anakapalle from Chintapalle.

Meanwhile, tension is still prevailing in the agency area. The adivasis are not even attending shanties to procure essential commodities for fear of police harassment. There is a vigil everywhere and vehicles that enter Paderu and Araku are being checked thoroughly.

The police in plain clothes are grilling tribals on the whereabouts of the Maoists in villages in Dumbriguda, Hukumpeta and Araku Valley mandals. There are about 172 tribal families living in Livitiputtu, a tiny tribal hamlet in Dumbriguda where the two TDP leaders were felled.

According to sources, the police have detained some tribals from the village and are questioning them on the movement of the Maoists responsible for the twin murders on Sunday. Though the triabals most of whom have converted to Christianity told them that they were in Church when the outrage took place, the police are not ready to buy their argument.

They wonder how they could miss when 60 Maoists enter their village and carry out the operation without any hitch. Meanwhile, the Special Officer, Special Investigation Team (SIT) Fakeerappa appointed to probe the sensational twin murders has started investigation. Fakeerappa along with other officials inquired the drivers, gunmen and followers of MLA and former MLA.

Meanwhile, DGP RP Thakur arrived in the city and after a review of the situation visited the spot where the two leaders were slain. "After most of them were wiped out of AOB, the ultras committed the crime to prove their existence in the agency,” said the DGP.

Even as the combing is going on, the CPI (Maoist)’s Malkangiri- Koraput- Visakhapatnam Border division has issued a statement to the media against the newly-inaugurated Gurupriya bridge in Chitrakonda in the Malkangiri district of Odisha and termed it as ‘anti-development’. The letter was signed purportedly by Secretary Malkangiri- Koraput- Visakhapatnam Border division of CPI Maoists Kailasam.

The Maoist leader said that the bridge is not meant for bringing about development but was rather meant to bring destruction for the tribals in the area. The state government has constructed the bridge to loot the natural resources like bauxite from the area, Kailasam said.