Naxalite threat looms large over Telangana Assembly Elections

Hyderabad, Oct 18: There is a huge naxal threat that looms over the Telangana assembly elections 2018. The Intelligence Bureau says that naxals would look to disrupt the polling process and has advised all police stations to remain on a state of 'very high alert.'

The naxals have been looking to revive their movement in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. While in Telangana, they would look to target the TRS, in AP, their focus has been on the TDP leaders. Recently the naxalites killed Araku MLA, Bidari Sarweswar Rao and former MLA, Siveri Soma. The killings took place at Araku Valley in Visakhapatnam.

The IB says that the naxalites had prepared a hit list and would look to execute it ahead of the polls. The Araku killings were a sign of this, the IB officer told OneIndia.

In this backdrop the naxalites have called for a boycott of the Telangana elections. The Community Party of India (Maoist), Telangana secretary, Haribhushan termed the elections as fake and called for a boycott to ensure the success of the new democratic revolution. He also blamed K Chandrasekhar Rao for trying to establish a dynastic rule in Telangana. He further said that he had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Election Commissioner, O P Rawat before dissolving the assembly.

Resurgence in AP:

The IB says that the naxalites had prepared a hit-list of several Telugu Desam Party leaders over the past two decades. The IB says that the naxalites have been nursing a long standing grudge against the politicians and may look to target them.

The IB says that the the naxalites have been making big attempts to re-group. Anantpur had been a strong base for them, but in recent years, they have suffered losses. It may be recalled that a series of operations were undertaken in the hills of Anantpur and Nallamalla forests, following which the top rung was wiped out. The naxalites then scattered towards Odisha and the bordering areas of Karnataka.