Andrapradesh: Ban on CPI Maoist and front organisations extended for one more year

CPI Maoist Meeting

Hyderabad, Aug 10 (IANS) The Andhra Pradesh government Monday decided to extend the ban on the Communist Party of India-Maoist and its six frontal organisations for one more year.

The decision was taken by the state cabinet at its meeting here Monday evening. The meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, decided to extend the ban on CPI-Maoist and its frontal organisations under the Andhra Pradesh Public Security Act till Aug 16, 2010.

The banned frontal organisations of the outfit are Radical Youth League, Rythu Coolie Sangham, Radical Students Union, Singareni Karmika Samakhya, Viplava Karmika Samakhya and All India Revolutionary Students Federation.

The decision was taken as the ban on the outfit and its frontal organisations is lapsing Aug 16.

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 with 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 re-imposed Aug 17, 2005, following the killing of then Congress legislator C. Narsi Reddy and nine others by Maoists in Mahbubnagar district on Independence Day. The killings followed the failure of peace talks and collapse of nine-month long ceasefire.

CPI-Maoist, the most powerful of Maoists groups in the country, has considerably weakened in Andhra Pradesh during the last four years as it lost over 400 cadres, including top leaders, in anti-Maoist operations by police and the elite anti-Maoist force Greyhounds.

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