Creation of Telangana will not fuel naxalism: ex-Maoist Usendi

HYDERABAD: Surrendered Maoist leader G V K Prasad alias Gudsa Usendi here today dismissed reports that creation of separate Telangana state will intensify Left-wing extremism in the region, saying such views are being deliberately spread by opponents of bifurcation.

"...this assessment (that Maoists movement will rise in Telangana region after the proposed bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh) is wrong," Usendi, the erstwhile spokesperson of Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), told reporters.

"Only those who are opposed to formation of separate Telangana are intentionally creating such a negative atmosphere," he said.

Usendi, along with his wife and ex-divisional committee member of DKSZC press unit Santoshi Markam, had turned himself in before AP Police on January 7.

The former rebel reiterated that he left the movement due to ideological differences with the Central committee on the policies of CPI (Maoist) party and due to ill-health of the couple.

On Chhattisgarh's Darbha valley naxal attack in May last year in which top Congress leaders were killed, Usendi claimed, "I was not at all part of that planning and execution of that action... what I did was I only reported that ambush through press notes."

"The planning and execution was not discussed with me and I did not have any direct link with that action," he asserted, adding a certain group of People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) members participated in that attack.

Asked if he justified the killing, Usendi said, "When I was with the party it was my responsibility and job to defend the acts of the party. And now that I am out of the party, I am looking at such things with a different perspective".