Telangana Elections 2018: Maoists call for boycott of Assembly polls

In a statement issued in the name of CPI-Maoist’s Telangana State Secretary Haribhushan that was sent to some media houses, the Maoist party urged the people to fight for a ‘democratic Telangana’.

Representational picture of Maoists. FILE PIC/AFP.

New Delhi: Maoists have called for a boycott of the upcoming Telangana Assembly elections and asked people not to participate in the “fake elections”. The Communist Party of India (Maoist) called for the boycott as it found fault with the policies pursued by all the parties. In a statement issued in the name of CPI-Maoist’s Telangana State Secretary Haribhushan that was sent to some media houses, the Maoist party urged the people to fight for a ‘democratic Telangana’. The statement by the Maoists alleged that the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has not fulfilled promises made in the last Assembly elections. It said that since public resentment was growing, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao went for early elections by dissolving the Assembly nine months before its term was to expire The CPI Maoists' state secretary Haribushuan also lashed out at the Grand Alliance and the Bahujan left Front (BLF) and said that the unity of the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will bear no fruits. He said he believes that parties like the CPI and the Telangana Jana Samithi joining hands with the Congress and the TDP in the name of Maha Kutami is tantamount to mobilising votes for bourgeoisie parties.

The statement also bashed the left parties for allegedly overlooking people’s problems and vying for positions of power. Though the Maoist movement has undermined considerably in the sate over the last decade, Intelligence agencies have reportedly cautioned politicians in Telangana against possible strikes by the Maoists during the election campaign. In the wake of the killing of a legislator and a former legislator in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, security agencies are on a high alert in Telangana as well. (With inputs from IANS)