Hyderabad, March 7 Ahead of the March 31 deadline set by the Centre, as many as 130 Maoists, including some women, surrendered to Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy here on Saturday.
As part of the surrender process, the cadres handed over 124 firearms, including one LMG, 31 AK-47 rifles, and 21 INSAS rifles, along with over 5,200 live rounds of various calibers, the highest in recent times in the country, according to the PLGA (People's Liberation Guerrilla Army).
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy appealed to underground insurgents, including Muppala Lakshmana Rao, commonly known as Ganapathi, who is believed to be a top leader, to surrender and join the mainstream. The CM further said that this may be the first instance in which a large number of Maoists gave up arms and surrendered.
Revanth Reddy, appealing to underground Maoists to join the mainstream, said that as many as 721 Maoists have surrendered in Telangana since January 2024.
Of the 130 surrendered insurgents of various ranks, 125 are from Chhattisgarh, four from Telangana, and one from Andhra Pradesh, DGP B Shivadhar Reddy said.
"Now there is no Telangana state committee of Maoists. It has completely disappeared," the DGP told reporters.
The surrender of weapons has significantly weakened the operational and combat capability of the CPI (Maoist) in the region and brought an end to prolonged insurgency in the Central Regional Bureau (CRB) area, the DGP said.
The surrendered Maoists symbolically handed over their weapons to the chief minister.
The surrendered Maoists belonged to the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), which has now completely ceased to exist, the DGP said.
"I am calling upon Ganapathi, who is underground, along with the other members of the Central Committee, to surrender. Join the mainstream of public life and become partners in the reconstruction of Telangana," he said.
He further said that he recently met former Maoist leaders DevuJi, Damodar, and other Central Committee members, who presented some proposals, such as increasing the financial package and agricultural land to the surrendered ultras, and that the CM took this to the notice of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Asserting that the Congress government is sympathetic and positive towards the Naxalites, Reddy said that if necessary, a committee will be formed to review pending cases against the Maoists and look into the possibility of withdrawing within the limits of the law.
"The State Government is sympathetic towards the Naxals and ready to solve the issues. The government is ready to provide a financial package to the surrendered Naxals, and a decision will be taken in this regard soon. The government is ready to take the responsibility of providing better medical care to the surrendered Naxalites. The union government already gave freedom to the state government to provide healthcare, financial help and housing for the surrendered,” he said.
"A ballot is more powerful than bullets to solve the issues," CM Revanth Reddy said and noted that India strongly believes that the problems can be solved through peaceful means.
The total eligible reward amount of over Rs 4.18 crore will be disbursed to all the 130 surrendered cadres, a press release from the Police said.
On February 24, top Maoist commander and the key "strategist" of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit, Thippiri Tirupati, also known as Devuji, also surrendered before the Telangana police, after over four decades of underground life.
Besides Devuji, another central committee member, Malla Raji Reddy, and two other ultras -- Bade Chokka Rao @ Jagan and Nune Narasimha Reddy @ Ganganna also laid down their arms.