The Maoist movement in the eastern part of the country, derailed after the death of Kishenji and the expulsion of Sabyasachi Panda, is all set for a new lease of life.

The central committee of the CPI(Maoist) has decided to send their politburo leader Katakam Sudarshan alias Anand to take charge of the eastern regional bureau (ERB) that includes West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa.

The 53-year-old strategist will fill the void left by Koteshwar Rao alias Kishenji who was killed in an encounter with the joint forces on November 24, 2011, at Burisole jungle in West Midnapore district and will be responsible for restructuring the sagging organisation, rejuvenate party workers and renew the movement.

 “We have information that Anand, who is a politburo member and among the senior leaders of the party, is replacing or have replaced Kishenji. He will be or is heading the ERB. We have alerted our forces who are keeping a strict vigil,” said a home department official.

According to Maoist sources, the movement in the eastern region, particularly in West Bengal, is in a very bad shape. After the death of Kishenji the party tried to put the responsibility on Sabyasachi Panda temporarily but his “anti-party” activities forced them to expel him. “Naturally the movement in Bengal became directionless,” sources said.

 Anand, a polytechnic engineer from Adilabad district in Andhra Pradesh, joined the People’s War Group with Kondapalli Seetaramaiyya in 1980 and is considered to be the brain behind some of the major attacks, including the CRPF massacre in Dantewada in 2010.

According to intelligence sources, Anand is not a pacifist like Azad and is against his party’s initiative to hold talks with the government.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has alerted the Maoists-affected states of heightened violence after the PLGA, the armed wing of CPI(Maoist), decided to observe its “raising week” from November 24-30 coinciding with the death anniversary of Kishenji, instead of December 2-8.