Hyderabad: The endgame of the four-and-a-half decade-old Maoist movement unfolded vividly under the shadow of intensive military operations when the chief and general secretary-designate of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) Tippiri Tirupathi and three other top leaders came into the open from their underground life here on Tuesday (February 24).

They were produced before a battery of cameras by Telangana’s director general of police B. Shivadhar Reddy in what he called the first instalment of Maoist leaders to surrender to the police.

In the subsequent rounds, a “significant” number of them will show up, said the chief of the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) of the police that negotiated the mass surrenders ahead of the March 31, 2026, deadline set by the Union government for making India ‘Maoist-free’, adding that their number could go up to 30 or 40.

The police forces closed in on almost the entire top leadership of the CPI (Maoist) comprising Tirupathi alias Devji and several others reportedly in the forests of Asifabad in Telangana on Sunday in the latest spell of the surrender spree within the party as the March 31 deadline approached fast.

But only Tirupathi, politburo member Malla Raji Reddy alias Sangram, Telangana state committee secretary Bade Chokka Rao alias Damodar and state committee member Nune Narasimha Reddy alias Ganganna were produced before a media conference on Tuesday. The others could not be brought due to ideological differences among them, a senior official said.

The Maoist party patriarch Muppala Lakshmana Rao alias Ganapati continued to be elusive, “but it is likely he will also come out”, said Shivadhar Reddy. “We are trying to bring him also. He is not in the forest like the others. He is in some urban area, where he is sheltered,” he added.

Sources, however, said he is either harboured in Nepal or had left for some other country.

Barring him and a handful of leaders, including central committee member (CCM) Misir Besra who operated in Jharkhand, those who surrendered on Sunday were all that the CPI (Maoist) could boast about to carry on its activities beyond March 31.

Lakshmana Rao has been underground since 1977 and took over as general secretary of the party in the mid-1990s. He relinquished the responsibility in 2018.

Tirupathi is believed to have led a group of 16 Maoists to surrender to the police in the forests of Asifabad on Sunday after days of negotiations with the sleuths of the SIB from their hideouts in Madhya Pradesh.

Shivadhar Reddy said Tirupathi was designated as general secretary of the party following the killing of his predecessor Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju and 26 comrades in an encounter in the Abujhmad forest, also known as Maad, of Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh in May last year. But there was no way the central committee could meet and ratify his elevation due to the pressure of security forces’ presence. He was also in charge of the party’s central military commission.

Earlier, deputy chief minister Vijay Sharma had declared to the media in Raipur that Maoism was in its final stage as a result of top leaders surrendering on Sunday on account of pressure built up by security forces’ presence in Chhattisgarh and adjoining states.

Today marks an important step towards lasting peace in country. Four senior CPI (Maoist) leaders have laid down arms and joined the mainstream. Their decision reflects courage and a conscious choice to embrace peace, dignity, and development over violence. I appreciate the… pic.twitter.com/ZU3fMDjymU — DGP TELANGANA POLICE (@TelanganaDGP) February 24, 2026

Today marks an important step towards lasting peace in country. Four senior CPI (Maoist) leaders have laid down arms and joined the mainstream. Their decision reflects courage and a conscious choice to embrace peace, dignity, and development over violence.

I appreciate the… pic.twitter.com/ZU3fMDjymU

— DGP TELANGANA POLICE (@TelanganaDGP) February 24, 2026

Sharma also said negotiations were on with three or four top Maoists to surrender. Without naming Lakshmana Rao, he added that an elderly leader had become completely inactive and his whereabouts were not known.

True to Sharma’s words, most of those who surrendered on Sunday were leaders of Dandakaranya special zonal committee (DKSZC) that supervised party activities in its stronghold comprising the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. In fact, Lakshmana Rao’s wife Jode Ratna Bai alias Sujatha is in charge of the Maad divisional committee within the territorial jurisdiction of the DKSZC.

As many as 22 top Maoists including Basavaraju and 11 other CCMs were killed in separate encounters in Bastar since the launch of Operation Kagar. Over 2,500 Maoists were arrested and 2,000 more surrendered in the region during the period. A total of 1,031 automatic weapons, including AK 47s, were recovered from their possession.

Sharma said Operation Kagar had reached its final stage with security forces focussed on flushing out the remaining extremists in the Karreguttalu hill range along the border between Telangana and Chhattisgarh.

Eighty-nine improvised explosive devices were recovered in the searches that began a few days ago.

Simultaneously, the forces have also stepped up operations in parts of Jharkhand and Odisha, which are also centres of activity for the party. They have continued to maintain a tight vigil in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, where the notorious Maoist Madvi Hidma was gunned down in an encounter in December.

The forces have combined deadline-driven encounters with surrenders as a means to achieve a ‘Maoist-free’ country. They have intensified combing operations in hostile terrain and inaccessible forest areas. This has led to a drastic decline in Maoist activity. The cadre have surrendered in hordes before the police in Chhattisgarh and Telangana.

Union home minister Amit Shah reviewed the government’s strategy on Maoists in Raipur earlier this month with the directors general of police of Maoist-affected states. This was his second visit to Chhattisgarh in two months to give the final push to Operation Kagar. Hours before his arrival on the second occasion, about 50 Maoists surrendered to the police.

The police have also intensified their operations, particularly in Bastar, which was considered a safe zone for the CPI (Maoist).

Though the anti-Maoist operations picked up momentum in 2019 when the geographical limits of 245 police stations in 61 districts of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Maharashtra and five other states were identified as sensitive, it was only after Operation Kagar that extra pressure was built on the ultras. The Union government also ordered setting up of forward operating bases (FOBs), a senior police official told The Wire.

In the first year, 24 FOBs were set up with personnel from the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action or CoBRA of the Central Reserve Police Force, the District Reserve Guard of Chhattisgarh and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. These FOBs acted as base camps for the forces, whose strength has swelled to 400. Now, these camps are seen in every five to fifteen kilometres of forest, he added.

He also said the camps could accommodate 200 to 400 personnel, who have been involved in encounters that killed 1,200 Maoists in six years. About 8,000 of them were also arrested and 6,000 surrendered during the period. Thousands of security personnel walked long distances and used drones and helicopters for surveillance.

A multi-pronged strategy to develop basic infrastructure and medical services in interior tribal areas and a rehabilitation policy promoted surrenders. At the same time, an effective intelligence network was also put in place.

The CPI (Maoist) began to break up in September-October last year with the surrender of its CCM and spokesman Mallojula Venugopal Rao, who opposed the “armed struggle” of the party in the wake of the police onslaught. Hundreds of cadres joined him by surrendering with their weapons in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.

The Maoist party then called for a six-month ceasefire to pave the way for peace talks, but Shah ruled this out.

Earlier, three commandos of the elite Greyhounds force of the Telangana police were killed by Maoists in the state’s Mulugu district in May last year. The incident marked the first police casualties since the launch of Operation Kagar.

Venugopal Rao’s decision was initially viewed as resulting from a conflict between two warring factions of the CPI (Maoist) over its ideology to wage an armed struggle as a means to improve the lives of the poor. He had resigned from the politburo after the party raised serious objections to his unilateral claim that it was willing to give up armed struggle to pave the way for peace talks in an attempt to end the government’s operations.

He was followed by DKSZC secretary Saroja and CCMs Takkellapalli Vasudeva Rao alias Ashanna and Pulluri Prasad Rao alias Chandranna. Thereafter, leaders and cadres lined up in police establishments across states to surrender in their olive green uniforms and weapons hanging from their shoulders.

The swift developments were an indication of the fall of the Maoist movement in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, which was founded with the name “People’s War” by Kondapalli Seetaramaiah, who was inspired by the 1967 uprising in Naxalbari in West Bengal, in 1980.

After his expulsion and subsequent surrender to the SIB in the mid-1990s, Lakshmana Rao led the party. He was instrumental in its forging an alliance with the Maoist Communist Centre of India, which was active in the northern states, to form the CPI (Maoist).

The new outfit carried out its activities in 16 states with its nearly 20,000 strong People’s Liberation Guerilla Army. The killing of its general secretary last year and the surrender of the incumbent now may be said to be the party’s last straw.

Shivadhar Reddy said that Maoism took birth in Telangana in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh state and is now coming to a close again in Telangana. However, Malla Raji Reddy said from the same platform that Maoism as an ideology will remain in the world. Tirupathi said he will continue his political life with the party’s ideology as his guiding spirit. He denied surrendering to lead a personal life of his own.

© The Wire