Following the recent arrest of Maoists from various cities in A.P., police say that they spread out from tribal and forest hideouts in order to escape the massive counter-offensive launched by security forces, but do not rule out a change in strategy
From November 18 to 19, Andhra Pradesh witnessed an extensive confrontation between the State police and the banned Left-wing extremist group, the CPI (Maoist).
This resulted in the death of 13 Maoists, including the most-wanted Madvi Hidma, a key member of the Central Committee, and Metturi Joga Rao alias Tech Shanker, the brain behind the making of IEDs.
Not only did two separate encounters within 24 hours in Maredumilli mandal of Alluri Sitharama Raju district result in these fatalities, but about 50 Maoists were also nabbed from various shelters across five cities in the State.
Never before has such an offensive against the LWE, which led to both deaths and arrests, been witnessed in the State within just two days.
While encounters and exchanges of fire have been common ever since the Maoists launched an armed struggle against the State, resulting in fatalities on both sides, mass arrests on this scale are a first. This indicates that the security forces are now conducting a well-coordinated, intelligence-driven counter-offensive.
But the underlying question that comes to the fore is: why did the Maoists leave their hideouts in Chhattisgarh, abandon most of their arms, and take shelter in cities?
The police say the Maoists are on the run, unable to face the heat of Operation Kagar, an anti-Maoist offensive launched by the Union government in Chhattisgarh. The operation is led by the CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) units of the CRPF and District Reserve Guards, in coordination with all LWE-affected States.
Police also believe that the Maoists, including the elusive Hidma, wanted to lie low for some time, regroup, and revive the movement in the Andhra–Odisha Border (AOB) region, which has long been a safe zone for them due to its thick forests and tribal population. AOB was the region from which the Maoists moved to Chhattisgarh in the early 1990s.
Though the Maoists are known for their resilience and ability to rise from the ashes — as they did in 1991 when they were reduced to a single dalam but bounced back to lead one of the deadliest insurgencies and establish a red corridor in Chhattisgarh — such a revival in AOB now seems unlikely. The region today is vastly different from what it was in the 1980s and 1990s.
The tribal district, once considered backward and fertile ground for a revolutionary movement, is now seeing development. Road connectivity has improved significantly, and communication networks have expanded. Many tribals, having benefited from government welfare schemes, are no longer eager to join the movement.
More importantly, most Maoists who were killed or arrested were from Chhattisgarh, and reviving the movement in AOB may prove difficult due to linguistic and cultural differences.
Shift in focus
Another possible argument is that they were planning to regroup and shift from jungle warfare to urban warfare.
According to a document seized by police at an encounter site a few years ago, written by former general secretary Muppala Lakshmana Rao alias Ganapathi, the party had acknowledged that it was losing its grip in the tribal lands of AOB and Chhattisgarh and needed to shift its focus to urban areas.
The party leadership, the Central Committee and Politburo, had realised that it needed to revive its intellectual base in urban spaces, which had historically supplied much of its leadership. Additionally, all affected States had by then developed highly-trained, well-equipped forces capable of launching deadly counter-offensives.
It is not as if the Maoists have no history of urban warfare. In the past, senior IPS officer K.S. Vyas (January 1993) and C. Umesh Chandra (September 1999) were killed by the Maoist hit squads in Hyderabad.
Shifting to urban warfare seems to have been their long-term plan, but with the recent setbacks, it now appears to be quashed, said Additional DGP (Intelligence) Mahesh Chandra Laddha.
Move to surrender?
Another possibility for their presence in cities in such large numbers could be that they were trying to negotiate a surrender.
Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu, a key Central Committee member who had surrendered in October, had made an appeal, after Hidma’s killing, urging the Maoists to surrender and join the mainstream to take up causes democratically. He made it clear that armed struggle is now outdated and they (Maoists) cannot match the firepower and technology of the security forces.
Published – November 20, 2025 08:02 pm IST
