Hyderabad: In another major setback for CPI (Maoist) party, Pothula Padmavathi alias Kalpana alias Sujatha, 62, a central committee (CC) member and wife of slain top Maoist leader Mallojula Koteshwara Rao alias Kishenji, surrendered at Telangana Police headquarters on Saturday, ending her 43-year association with the outlawed organisation.According to DGP Jitender, after remaining an underground cadre of the Maoist party for over four decades, Padmavathi, driven by her deteriorating health condition, decided to lay down arms, and will now spend time with her daughter and mother.She carried a reward of Rs 25 lakh against her name, which was handed over to her by the DGP through a demand draft following her surrender. However, citing her ill health as a reason, Padmavathi was not allowed to speak to reporters. “Even we did not interact with her much due to her ill health,” ADG (intelligence) Shivdhar Reddy said.Padmavathi, a native of Penchikalpadu village in Jogulamba Gadwal district, hailed from a land-owning family. Her father Thimma Reddy served as the village postmaster. Influenced by her cousin and senior Maoist Patel Sudhakar Reddy, she joined the People’s War Group in 1982 while studying at Gadwal’s govt junior college. She married Kishenji in 1984 and became a CC member in 2023.Before being made CC member, Padmavathi was in-charge of ‘janathana sarkar’ for the entire Dandakaranya special zonal committee (DKSZC) in 2018. In 2022, she was appointed secretary of the south sub-zonal bureau in DKSZC, a stronghold and key guerrilla base of the Maoists.Police said of CPI (Maoist)’s 15 CC members, 10 are from Telangana, making Padmavathi’s departure a psychological blow to the ageing top rungs. “We came to know that the party is in the process of identifying their leader now, though some reports say that Thippiri Tirupathi alias Devuji has already been chosen. We appeal to the Maoist party leadership to surrender and join the mainstream,” the DGP said.In 2024, 22 Maoists were neutralised in Telangana while this year, 10 have been killed in anti-Naxal operations in the state so far.
