Senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) Jajjeri Samakka alias Sharada or Sharadakka, surrendered to the Telangana police in the presence of Director General of Police (DGP) M Mahendar Reddy on Friday, September 17. Sharada, a native of Gangaram village of Telangana’s Mahabubabad district, had been working as Divisional Committee Member (DVCM) of the Bhadradri Kothagudem-East Godavari Divisional Committee (BK-EG DVC). She was married to former Telangana State Committee (TSC) Secretary and Central Committee Member late Haribhushan alias Yapa Narayana, who died from COVID-19 earlier in June. Speaking to the media, DGP Mahendar Reddy said that the reasons for Sharadakka’s surrender included health problems, the death of her husband, and “lost faith in CPI (Maoist) ideology.”
The DGP said that upon interrogation, Sharada revealed that around 20 cadres had run away from the party and returned to their villages in the past six months. The DGP alleged that the Maoist leadership was trying to force them to rejoin the party, sending armed troops to their villages to pressure them to return. “Many cadres are willing to leave the party in disillusionment, and due to lack of medical facilities amid COVID-19 and other diseases in forest areas,” he said. He added that according to Sharada two more leaders, Azad, Raji Reddy alias Venkatesh were also unwell, and alleged that they wished to surrender but were being stopped by Maoist leadership.
The DGP said that Sharada had informed the Maoist leadership before she surrendered. She has been involved in around 25 cases of crime and six incidents of exchange of fire, he said. Police handed over a demand draft for Rs 5 lakh towards her rehabilitation and Rs 5000 for immediate expenses. Noting that cadres’ lives might be endangered in encounters, exchange of fire, or due to medical illnesses, the DGP appealed to them to surrender.
Narrating her history with the CPI (Maoist), the DGP said that Sharada, who is around 45 years old, had first joined the party in 1994 when she was 18, on the invitation of Haribhushan, who was the Commander of the Pandava dalam (troop) at the time. She married Haribhushan in 1995, and worked as a member of the Pandava dalam till 1996, he said. From 1997 to 1998, she worked as a member of the Kinnera dalam, and from 1999 to 2000 as a 1st Platoon member in the North Telangana Special Zonal Committee (NTSZC). She then worked in the Central Committee Protection Team as a 6th Platoon member from 2000 to 2004, being promoted as Area Committee Member (ACM) in 2001. She worked as the Cherla Local Organising Squad (LOS) Commander from 2005 to 2008.
The DGP said that Sharada suffered a bullet injury in an exchange of fire in 2006, resulting in loss of eyesight. Eventually, in July 2008, she surrendered before the Warangal Superintendent of Police (SP) as an ACM. While she was being rehabilitated for a couple of years, in November 2011, she rejoined the party, the DGP said. She then continued to work with Haribhushan’s team until 2016, when she was appointed as Secretary of Cherla-Shabari Area Committee (AC), having been demoted due to her earlier surrender, police said. In January 2018, she was promoted as Divisional Committee Member in the BK-EG DVC and was also guiding the Cherla-Shabari AC.