Chhattisgarh starts police build up ahead of Maoists' meet

 The Chhattisgarh government has started a police build-up at the entry points of the vast forested area called the Abujhmad amid unconfirmed reports that the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) is planning to hold its convention there in the coming months.

"There are some intelligence inputs that the Maoists' congress - which is held once in five years - is to be organised this time in Bastar's Abujhmad in the coming months. We are tracking the area very intensively," a top source at police headquarters here told IANS.
"For the past four months, there has hardly been any Maoist violence in the state. This is very unusual. Unconfirmed reports say that it is all because senior Maoists in Bastar are busy with arrangements of their tenth congress," the source added.

The Abujhmad is spread over an area of 4,000 sq km and is onsidered a "no go" area for police. The police have never been able to penetrate Abujhmad and dismantle the leftist insurgents' terror network. Hence, Maoists enjoy total command in the forest.

Experts say that it is mandatory for Maoist leaders, including politburo and central committee members, to attend the congress where the leaders discuss achievements and failures in a series of sessions and firm up a future strategy to step up armed struggle against the Indian government.

But a police official posted in the Orchha area of Bastar, which is considered a gateway to Abujh told IANS: "The Maoists might have deliberately spread rumours about their planned convention to misguide police and para-military forces."

"The increased focus on Abujhmad by the police would give the Maoists an opportunity to carry out attacks at police bases in other parts of Bastar, which has not happened for several months," the official said.