With the targeting of two ruling Telugu Desam party leaders, including MLA K Sarveshwara Rao the Andhra-Odisha border zone is back in focus as a stronghold of the outlawed CPI Maoist party.
As the Visakhapatnam agency area was reeling under tension and a further flare-up of violence appears quite likely, the top officials of Andhra Pradesh police were analysing the reasons for the failure of security leading to the killing of the two tribal leaders so close to Araku, a major town and tourist spot.
The reason the failure has become more stark was that the Maoists had issued a clear threat to attack the MLA from Araku in April last. There were also fears that the Maoists might carry out a spectacular attack on the occasion of the 14th formation day of the CPI Maoist. However, it now appears that no heed was paid to the threat.
"A combination of factors including intelligence failure and the over-confidence on the part of the police seems to have led to this tragedy", said a top AP police official, adding that corrective measures will be taken once the probe was completed. He also felt that the MLA also did not follow the procedure as he ventured into the interiors without informing police.
AP police was confident that the Maoists will not venture into their area from Odisha hacking suffered severe setbacks during last two years including the killing of 32 Maoists in a joint operation by Greyhounds of AP and special force of Odisha police. The incident in October 2016 at Ramgarh was seen as a back breaking blow to the outlawed organisation. Since then Maoists made several unsuccessful attempts to carry out a retaliatory attack but suffered more losses leading to the complacency on the part of police.
Police officials feel that the triangle of Andhra-Odisha-Chhattisgarh border due to its topography and forests had the potential to once again become a stronghold of the Maoists and could be used by them as springboard for more attacks.
Ever since the CPI Maoist completely lost their fortress in Nallamalla forest in Andhra Pradesh they could not find another foothold till now. As the Maoists were quite strong and active in Odisha and Chattisgarh they could stage attacks in Andhra as well as Bhadradari-Kottagudem district of Telangana, the police official said.
Six teams of AP police have launched combing operations in Visakhapatnam agency area against the Maoists involved in the killings. Sources said that th efforts to nab or kill them were being coordinated with the Odisha police which was alerted soon after the attack.
State police officials believe that Andhra Odisha Border Special Zone Committee Military Commission Chief Pratapreddy Ramchandea Reddy alias Chalapati could be the main brain behind the attack. The organisation had moved him to Odisha after the Ramgarh encounter in 2016 and according to the intelligence sources he returned to Andhra side a few days back. Chalapti's wife Chaotanya alias Aruna heads the Nandapur area committee in the same area on Andhra Odisha border. Police believes that this committee provided logistical support to the action team of military commission in executing the decision taken at a high level in CPI Maoist party.
The other name of possible executioner of the plan was T Vasudev Rao alias Vasanna who was also involved in the bid to assassinate Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in a mine blast in Tirumala and was believed to be active in the area. Visakhapatnam incident also had its echo in neighbouring Telangana where police have gone on alert in districts of Warangal and Karimnagar, strongholds of Maoists in the past.
State Home Minister N Narasimha Reddy expressed confidence that Maoists will not be able to carry out Araku like attack. "No politician in the state has any threat from Maoists", he said. But the police officials say they can not afford to relax as the elections were close and the leaders of all parties will be travelling extensively in the rural areas. Maoists had used the land mines and claymore mines to target the political leaders in rural Telangana in the past with deadly results.