The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) replaces its No.2, Prashant Bose aka Kishan da (74), with Ranjit Bose aka Kabir (63), reports News 18 on February 4. Bose, known for his expertise in mobilising masses against Security Forces (SFs), is believed to have played a key role in the agitation against the Tata Nano project in Nandigram in West Bengal in 2007, in which 14 people died in clashes between locals and Police, carries a bounty of INR 10 million on his head. Bose had launched a similar operation against the State by mobilising people in all 44 villages of Lalgarh in 2009, declaring it a ‘liberated zone’. Hundreds of people were reported to have been killed by Maoists, and in clashes between SFs and the Maoists. The accumulated bounty on his head is from the Governments of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Telangana. The move is an attempt by the CPI-Maoist to step up activities and violence in eastern India, particularly Bihar and Jharkhand. According to sources, the decision to make the switch was taken at a meeting of top CPI-Maoist leaders somewhere in Saranda forests in West Singhbhum of Jharkhand, where their most senior leader, Nambala Keshav Rao aka Basavraj, was also present. According to the report, the top decision-making body of CPI-Maoist, its politburo, now has, apart from Basavraj, Ranjit Bose, and its former chief Ganapathy, Mallojula Venugopal aka Abhay, Katakam Sudharshan aka Anand, and Misir Bisra aka Sagar da.