Who Was Basavaraju, A Ruthless Maoist From Andhra Pradesh Killed In Chhattisgarh?-OxBig News Network

AMARAVATI: Nambala Keshav Rao, India’s topmost Maoist chief, gunned down by safety forces in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, was thought-about a ruthless revolutionary and a grasp army strategist who led a few of the most brutal assaults within the historical past of the Maoist motion within the nation. Popularly often called Basavaraju, he was the apparent alternative to guide CPI (Maoist) when Muppala Lakshman Rao or Ganapathy stepped down as the overall secretary in 2018.

Regarded as an professional in IEDs, Basavaraju hailed from the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. He had led many brutal assaults, together with the 2010 assault at Chintalnar in Chhattisgarh, killing 76 CRPF personnel. With a B.Tech diploma from the National Institute of Technology, Warangal (earlier often called Regional Engineering College), he was identified to be one of many extremely educated Maoists.

Basavarju, who was round 70, spent 43 years within the Maoist motion to which he was attracted within the Nineteen Eighties whereas finding out M.Tech. He was the Commander in Chief of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Maoists and carried a reward of Rs 2.02 crore on his head. He additionally headed the forest division of the Dandakaranya up to now and was a member of the CPI (Maoist) Politburo, the ideological suppose tank of the banned outfit.

The Maoist chief was believed to be chargeable for all main assaults on safety forces over the past 15 years. He was additionally thought-about to be the mind behind the Claymore mine assault on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at Alipiri in Tirupati in 2003. Naidu, then Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh, was injured within the assault.

The guerrilla chief, who was additionally a member of the Standing Committee and Central Committee of CPI (Maoist), was thought-about a hardliner in following get together ideology when in comparison with his predecessor, Ganapathy. Ganapathy, who was the primary common secretary after the CPI-ML People’s War and Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) merged in 2004 to kind the CPI (Maoist), is believed to have fled India.

Basavaraju was identified by many aliases, together with Vinay, Ganganna, Prakash, BR, Umesh and Keshav. He was born in Jiyannapeta of Kotabommili mandal in Srikakulam district in 1955. His father, Vasudev Rao, was a trainer, and he had a brother and three sisters.

After main schooling within the village, he went to highschool in his grandfather’s village, Talagam and accomplished intermediate from Junio College at Tekkali. During his faculty days, he was a kabbadi participant.

While finding out B.Tech from the Regional Engineering College (REC) Warangal, he was attracted by the Radical Students’ Union. In 1984, whereas doing his M. Tech, he was impressed by CPI (ML) People’s War’s ideology. He discontinued M. Tech to affix the motion. After becoming a member of the Naxalbari motion, he by no means visited his village.

Basavaraju was thought-about a key strategist in finishing up army assaults. He headed the Central Military Commission for a decade. He was additionally believed to have hatched the plot to assault Salwa Judum founder Mahendra Karma in 2013. Mahendra Karma and 27 others have been killed on this assault. He was additionally the mind behind the killing of Telugu Desam Party’s Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma on September 23, 2018.