Muppalla Lakshman Rao alias Ganapati is one of the top Maoist leaders in India. Until recently, he was the central committee secretary of the CPI (Maoist). It has now been reported that he is planning to surrender to police and discussions are said to be going on. It is learnt that Ganapati is in touch with his family members on this.
Ganapati worked as central committee secretary for a long time after formation of CPI (Maoist) with the merger of People’s War Group and Maoist Communist Centre and (MCC). He left the position in 2018 citing age and ill-health. He is succeeded by Nambala Keshava Rao as central committee secretary.
Sources say Ganapati, 71, has been suffering from illnesses and is ready to surrender to authorities once Central and state governments give their nod.
Ganapati was born on June 16, 1949, at Birkur village in Jagtial district in Telangana. According to some sources, Sarangapur in Karimnagar district is his native village. He graduated in science and later passed B.Ed. While working as a teacher, he left for Warangal to pursue post-graduation.
Rs.15 lakh reward
Ganapati is an accused in many Naxal-related crimes and the National Investigation Agency had announced a reward of Rs. 15 lakh on his head. There were reports earlier that he fled to Philippines via Nepal after retiring as central committee secretary. He is considered highly inaccessible to the media. Except for a few journalists like Rahul Pandita, the writer of ‘Hello Bastar’ he has not given any interviews.
