The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist)
has lost
150 members
including
senior leaders,
cadres and
guerrilla
fighters,
admitted
the outfit
on June
12, reports
The Times
of India.
In a press
statement
issued by
Gudsa Usendi,
the spokesperson
of the Maoists
in Dandakaranya
— the headquarters
of the Maoist
outfit,
announced
that in
Dandakaranya
alone, the
group had
lost 40
of its men
in past
one year.
110 Maoists
died in
the rest
of the country
where the
outfit is
active.
Like previous
years the
outfit has
announced
to observe
martyr's
week from
July 28
across the
country.
The Maoist
spokesperson
said that
some of
the deceased
party members
died of
illness
and some
in encounters
with the
security
forces.
The statement emphasised on the death of Maoist politburo member
Koteswara
Rao's encounter
death at
Burishole
in Bengal
on November
24 last
year. Apart
from Kishanji,
the Maoists
declared
that Srikant,
one of the
senior leaders
of Dandakaranya
Special
Zonal Committee
died on
February
this year.
Srikant,
a member
of the outfit
since 1993,
was suffering
from a heart
ailment.
He played
crucial
role in
the outfit's
organisation
in Gadchiroli
district
of Maharashtra
and last
year during
an ambush
he sustained
injuries.
Sunita who was with the outfit for past 30 years also died
due to illness.
She was
suffering
from breast
cancer.
The red
brigade
lost their
Telangana
based leader
Gundeti
Shankar
who died
of snake
bite in
the deep
forests
of Telangana.
Security agencies suggested that the Maoists were now facing
a leadership
crisis as
a good number
of their
senior leaders
were either
in jail
or were
killed in
encounters.
They are
now trying
to build
up the next
line of
leadership
through
their party
congress.
But due
to regular
operations,
they have
deferred
their scheduled
congress.
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