HyderabadSeptember 9, 2025 06:19 PM IST
First published on: Sep 9, 2025 at 06:19 PM IST
Months after CPI (Maoist) chief Nambala Keshava Rao, known by his nom de guerre Basavaraju, was killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh, sources in the Telangana intelligence department confirmed to The Indian Express that the banned party’s military chief Thippiri Tirupathi, alias Devuji, has now taken over as its new general secretary.
For the past two decades, Tirupathi headed the Central Military Commission, or the military wing, of the CPI (Maoist), which has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the government since 2009. The 62-year-old’s name cropped up on Indian intelligence’s radar as a potential successor to Basavaraju after his encounter in May.
Hailing from Telangana’s Jagtial district, which was then known as Karimnagar, Tirupathi is from the Madiga Dalit community. “Tirupathi’s leadership is going to be pivotal because he comes from a marginalised background and can rally the party’s cadre, including the Adivasis,” a top state intelligence officer told The Indian Express.
Tirupathi, who is among the three remaining members of the CPI (Maoist) Politburo, is from the second-rung leadership when compared to two former general secretaries who helmed the party – Muppalla Laxman Rao alias Ganapathy who stepped down in 2018 and Basavaraju. “It’s the second-tier leadership which is going to guide the party now that many among the older leadership have been killed,” the intelligence officer said.
Tirupathi has climbed to the top of the CPI (Maoist) ahead of Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu who, according to intelligence officials, was among the contenders. Sonu is considered to be the ideological head of the outfit. Carrying bounties of Rs 1 crore each, both Maoist leaders are believed to be hiding in Abujhmad, a hilly and forested region in southern Chhattisgarh that has long been a stronghold for the rebels.
In May, after Basavarju was killed, Tirupathi’s granddaughter issued a video statement pleading with her grandfather to come out of hiding and surrender. “Dear grandfather, please come home… I’ve always longed to meet you, but sadly never got the chance. Whenever I read about you in the media, I feel both pride and pain. I know you gave everything to the cause of an egalitarian society, but recent events have been deeply saddening,” she said.
Tirupathi, like several other Maoist leaders, is a product of the Radical Students Union (RSU), an outfit that emerged in 1975 at Osmania University in Hyderabad after the alleged killing of a student leader by members of a right-wing group. Though the RSU’s influence has waned in the past five decades, particularly after the government banned it in 1992, the group played a prominent role in contributing to the rank and file of the CPI (Maoist).
In 2000, Tirupathi created the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army, the armed wing of one of the precursors of what ultimately became the CPI (Maoist) four years later. He is believed to have been involved in a 2007 attack in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, where Maoists attacked a police base camp and killed 55 security personnel. Tirupathi is also known to have played a role in the April 2010 ambush in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district that left 76 CRPF personnel dead.
Tirupathi assumes the general secretary’s role at a time when the Maoists are in crisis. As per a Politburo document that The Indian Express had accessed earlier, the CPI (Maoist) has asked its cadre to retreat as the conditions are not conducive for offensives. Central and state security forces have been clamping down on the Maoists in Chhattisgarh and surrounding states, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah declaring that left-wing extremism will be eradicated by 2026.