Andhra Pradesh extends ban on CPI-Maoist, its outfits

HYDERABAD - The Andhra Pradesh government Monday extended the ban on the Communist Party of India-Maoist and its six frontal organisations for a further period of one year.

The state cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, decided to extend the ban on CPI-Maoist and its frontal organisations under the Andhra Pradesh Public Security Act. The ban lapsed Aug 16.

State Information Minister J. Geeta Reddy told reporters after the cabinet meet that the frontal organisations of the outfit that are bvanned are: Radical Youth League, Rythu Coolie Sangham, Radical Students Union, Singareni Karmika Samakhya, Viplava Karmika Samakhya and All India Revolutionary Students Federation.

It may be recalled that the state government had lifted the ban on then People’s War Group (PWG) in 2004 to facilitate a ceasefire and the first-ever direct peace talks between tghe governmen and the Maoists. During the talks, PWG merged with Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) to form CPI-Maoist.

The ban on CPI-Maoist and its frontal organisations was reimposed Aug 17, 2005, following the killing of then Congress legislator C. Narsi Reddy and nine others by Maoists in Mahabubnagar district on the Independence Day. The killings followed the failure of peace talks and the collapse of a nine-month long ceasefire.

CPI-Maoist, the most powerful of Maoists groups in the country, has considerably weakened in Andhra Pradesh during the last five years as it lost its top leaders in anti-Maoist operations by police and the elite anti-Maoist force Greyhounds.

The central government banned CPI-Maoist in June last year by branding it a terrorist organisation.