A group of Naxal, including many women, shot dead a legislator and a former lawmaker in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday in first such Naxal attack in nearly five years in the state.
Telugu Desam Party MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao, 45, and his party colleague Siveri Soma, 52, were targeted on their way to participate in a village tour in the interior Dumbriguda Mandal, said the police. The scene of the killings is close to Araku, a popular hill station.
“Nearly 20 Maoists and few villagers attacked the two leaders around noon and snatched away weapons from their personal security officers. As per the preliminary investigation, both the TDP leaders died on the spot,” said Srikanth, deputy inspector general of police. Officials said the two had received threats from Maoists in the past. Rao was elected from Araku on a YSR Congress Party ticket in 2014.
He had defeated Soma of the TDP. In 2016, Rao switched loyalties to the TDP.
In July this year, sources said, tribals from the area had protested against Rao for allegedly securing mining lease in the name of his brother-in-law. They had alleged that quarrying of black stones was damaging the houses of locals.
While the scene of attack is close to Malkangiri of Odisha and Sukma in Chhattisgarh considered Maoist hotbeds, Sunday’s strike is unusual considering that Greyhounds, the state’s elite anti-insurgency force, had reined in the Reds in past few years. Sources said Greyhounds had been so effective that top Naxal leaders from the state were forced to launch attacks in neighbouring Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who is on tour to USA, will hold an emergency meeting on law and order situation in Andhra Pradesh once he lands in New York airport, said officials.
Home Minister and Deputy Chief Minister N Chinarajappa this is the first attack by the Naxals in the area over the last four and half years. “We are feeling very bad. How so many Naxals came from other states, how they fired, we have ordered an inquiry. People should also be careful, as everybody has freedom in democracy. We condemn this ghastly attack.”
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