69-year-old senior Maoist leader Katakam Sudarshan passed away on May 31 due to a heart stroke, as confirmed by the CPI (Maoist) central committee on Sunday, June 4. Sudarshan, a wanted individual and member of the politburo of the CPI (Maoist) central committee, was operating underground in Dandakaranya, Chhattisgarh.
According to a press release issued by the party, Sudarshan died at 12.20 pm on May 31. He was in hiding for nearly 48 years. He was also known as Anand and Dula. He was an expert in the fieldcraft and hailed from Bellampalli of Adilabad district. He had a Diploma in Mining. He joined the Maoist party in 1978, and worked as the organizer of the party’s ‘Back to the villages’ campaign in Luxettipet and Jannaram region, the party said.
Sudarshan is credited with sending the Maoist youth to strategic locations and spreading the Maoist ideology in the backward Adivasi regions and thereby expanding the influence of the party. He was the Adilabad District Committee Secretary when the then Congress government killed 70 people in the infamous “encounter” in Indravelli in 1981. He continued as the Adilabad District Committee Secretary until 1985. Sudharshan headed the Gadchiroli squad in Maharashtra, as part of the party’s ‘Guerilla Zone Perspective’ strategy, in which seven squads were formed and sent to Dandakaranya.
In 1985, he was a member of the forest liaison committee, the press release said. And from 1987-1995, he was a member of the forest committee. In 1995, he was appointed as the Secretary of newly formed North Telangana Special Zonal Committee (NTSZC). He was also elected to the Central Committee in the All India Special Conference in 1995, the press release added.