‘Naxalites want power through the barrel of gun’

HYDERABAD — A top leader of outlawed CPI Maoist has said that the Naxalites in India will never contest elections. Instead, they will continue their struggle to capture power through the barrels of gun. “We will never follow the example of Maoists in Nepal and fight elections”, said the CPI Maoist central committee secretary Sriramulu Srinivas alias Sudarshan.

Sudarshan, who was produced in the Ranga Reddy district court by the police in connection with the assassination of former state home minister A. Madhava Reddy in March 2000, said that even if an opportunity comes, the Maoists will not contest elections. “We believe in capturing power through armed struggle”, he told the media. “The conditions in India are completely different from that of Nepal”. The CPI Maoist is the biggest Maoist organisation in the country and waging armed ‘battle‘ in 16 states across the country. The fight between the armed Maoists and the security forces has claimed nearly 7,000 lives during the last four decades. Sudarshan lashed out at the state’s ruling Congress party for betraying the people of Telangana. “Before the last elections they promised separate Telangana state but after coming to power, they went back on it”, he said.