Anti-Naxal meet focuses on states’ tri-junctions, Red leadership change

NEW DELHI: The need for security forces to crack down on left-wing extremists hiding in tri-junctions along Chhattisgarh-Odisha-AP border and Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh-MP border as well as challenges posed by emergence of Nambala Keshava Rao as the top CPI (Maoist) leader, were discussed at a review meeting chaired by home secretary Rajiv Gauba here on Tuesday.
TOI has learnt that while the meeting — attended by chief secretaries and DGPs of the affected states, heads of central para-military forces and intelligence brass — took note of the decline in Maoist violence and considerable shrinkage in geophraphical spread of left-wing extremism over the last five years, it concurred that the counter-Naxal forces must pay attention to the trijunctions of affected states, where Maoist strongholds still thrive.
Sources said the change in CPI (Maoist) leadership, which saw an ageing and ailing Ganapathy make way for a younger and more militarily-inclined Keshava Rao last year, had heightened concerns that the outfit may adopt much sharper military/guerrilla tactics.
“Keshava Rao, having been chief of central military commission (CMC) of CPI(Maoist), is not only rabid military mind but also specialises in knowhow of IEDs and weapons. The outfit under him is bound to have a military edge,” said an officer.
The review of LWE-affected districts in 2018 had resulted in cutting down of districts covered by the home ministry’s security-related expenditure reimbursement scheme from 126 districts to 90, with 8 districts added as a pre-emptive measure. The meeting on Tuesday did not update the list further.
At the meeting on Tuesday, useful suggestions and security concerns expressed by the states were taken note of. The need to make mobile communication more effective and improve the working conditions of the security forces deployed in the LWE theatre was discussed. It was decided to carry forward the implementation of National Policy and Action Plan drafted in 2015 to address left wing extremism.