Communist Party of India - Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres, along with a large number of armed militia members and sympathisers, attacked and destroyed an Ashram(hermitage) of a local spiritual guru, Jaggamdora Simhachalam akaSatyanarayana, at Gurramveedhi village in the G. Madugula mandal (administrative unit) of Vishakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh, in the night of January 17, 2015.

'Divisional committee member' Sindri China Ranga Rao aka Sharath and P. Ganapathi were lynched by locals while Maoists were taking Simhachalam to apraja court ('people's court') near Korukonda Shandy, after killing G. Sanjeeva Rao on 'charges' of being a Police informer. Another Maoist militia member, Korra Nageswara Rao, was also believed to have been killed in this incident, but, as facts emerged later, he survived after being dumped in a nearby stream, and subsequently escaped. On November 27, he was seen talking to the media during a memorial meeting held by the Maoists in the Vishakhapatnam Agency area.

The Maoists' revenge attack notwithstanding, the lynching incident in what was long a Maoist stronghold indicates that even the residual strength of the Maoists in Andhra Pradesh is waning. Further, on January 21, 2015, 34 Maoist sympathisers surrendered before the Police at Rajavommangi in East Godavari District. It is significant that, after a protracted political slug fest and acrimonious protests, Andhra Pradesh was officially bifurcated to create the new State of Telangana on June 2, 2014. According to the arrangement, Hyderabad will remain the joint capital for both the States for ten years, after which Andhra Pradesh will have its own capital and Hyderabad will be transferred entirely to Telangana. The residuary Andhra Pradesh has 13 Districts and Telangana has 10. Most of the Maoist affected Districts in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh have gone to Telangana.

According to South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, by the end of 2013, Maoist activity appeared to have been substantially confined to Visakhapatnam and Khammam Districts, while Karimnagar, Warangal, Srikakulam, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, East and West Godavari Districts remained marginally affected. The residual State of Andhra Pradesh, inherited just one District, Visakhapatnam, with moderate Maoist activity and three Districts - East Godavari, West Godavari and Srikakulam - with marginal Maoist activity. However, seven mandals of the erstwhile Khammam District, which had a considerable Maoist presence, have been added to East and West Godavari District.

According to SATP data, the present (residual) Andhra Pradesh has recorded 10 fatalities, including five civilians and five Maoists, in LWE related incidents of violence in 2014, as compared to eight fatalities including six civilians and two Maoists in 2013 in the same areas. This suggests that Andhra Pradesh has sustained the advantage it had secured against the Maoists before the division of the State. While civilian fatalities remain comparable, Maoist fatalities have gone up from two to five. There were no SF fatalities in either year.

In terms of spatial distribution, fatalities in 2014 were reported from three Districts - Vishakhapatnam (three civilians and two Maoists), Prakasam (three Maoists) and East Godavari (two civilians). In 2013, fatalities were reported from three Districts of the comparable area of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh - Vishakhapatnam (four civilians and one Maoist), East Godavari (two civilians) and Nellore (one Maoist).

Two major incidents (each involving three or more fatalities) were recorded in 2014 - one in Prakasam (three Maoists killed in an encounter with SFs on June 19 and another in Vishakhapatnam (one civilian and two Maoists, on October 19). The Maoists had engineered just one major incident in 2013, killing three tribals in the Lakkavaram forest area in G.K. Veedhi mandal of Visakhapatnam District on February 19. No major incidents were reported in 2012 and 2011 in the residual Andhra Pradesh areas.

Maoists engineered one swarming attack (involving 50 or more cadres/militia members) each in 2014 and 2013. On January 27, 2014, 20 CPI-Maoist cadres accompanied by an estimated 50 militia members triggered blasts at two coffee pulping units and a godown of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Development Corporation's coffee pulping yard at Chapagedda in GK Veedhi mandal in Visakhapatnam District. Earlier on July 6, 2013, some 20 CPI-Maoist cadres along with about 70 militia members raided the house of a former chairman of the Agriculture Marketing Committee of Chintapalli mandal, Vantala Subba Rao in his native Bayalu Kinchangi village under Choudapalli Panchayat of Visakhapatnam District.

The Maoists were involved in at least two exchanges of fire, two explosions, four incidents of arson and gave calls for bandhs (general shutdown strikes) on two occasions in 2014; in 2013 they were involved in at least three exchanges of fire, one explosion, one incident of arson, four cases of assault and gave calls forbandhs on three occasions.

The Maoists held a meeting on November 27, 2014, in memory of the cadres lynched in the October 19 incident. The meeting was organised somewhere near the location of the incident, and people from 33 villages under the Balapam Gram Panchayat were asked to attend. The meeting was reportedly addressed by the party's 'east division secretary' Kailasam, and many top leaders at the State level were also present. Reports suggest that more than a hundred party functionaries attended. Kailasam announced that coffee plantations at Siribala, RV Nagar and Chapagedda would be distributed to the Girijans (tribals) soon, since the party believed that the forest wealth belonged to the Girijans. Six coffee plantations had been 'allocated' by the Maoists to the Girijans in the past.

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Andhra Pradesh: Maoists: Waning Support