Was YSR targeted by Maoists?

State police are keeping their fingers crossed as hours passed by since the disappearance of the helicopter which carried Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in the Nallamala.

Reason: the sudden spurt of Maoist activities on the Chattisgarh border of Andhra Pradesh and also in Nallamala. Although the CMO and the state intelligence do not confirm it, the Maoist leader Mallojula Kotewar Rao alias Kishenji told a Telugu paper that “ We are not finished yet in Andhra Pradesh. " The CPI (Maoists) had all the reason to act against YSR, as they feel he had ditched them after initiating talks with Maoist leaders who came all the way out of the Nalllamala forests. Later the hard line approach which DGP Swaranjit Sen unleashed wiped out their base in Nallamala forests. The Maoists suffered huge losses and shifted their base out of the State to safe houses in Karntaka, Tamil Nadu, while the cadres fled to Chattisgarh.

Asked about why the CMO kept on feeding wrong information that the helicopter had been traced and that the CM was safe, an official spokesman said the government did not want the Maoists elements who might be still operative in the region to get wind of it and plan something against his life.

Police sources said they had kept track of all known Maoist elements in the city and also in districts and were watching their movements. “We don’t have any definite leads but we do see some activity,” said a source.

Some Congress leaders and close aides say YSR faced threat not only from the Maoist but also from his political conspirators. But they rule out any untoward thing.