Maoists Kidnap Six TRS Leaders In Khammam

The outlawed Maoists, ahead of the Warangal Lok Sabha by-election, administered the ruling TRS a shock by abducting six of its leaders from the Kothagudem and Bhadrachalam areas in the Khammam district on Wednesday night.

According to reports, gun-wielding Naxalites reportedly took Bhadrachalam TRS in-charge Ramakrishna, who contested on the TRS ticket in the last general elections from Bhadrachalam, and five others, including Charla mandal ex-president Patel Venkateshwara Rao, former secretary Santapuri Suresh Kumar, Vajedu mandal president Dattakatla Janardhan, Venkatapuram mandal party president Satyanarayana and former sarpanch Ramakrishna, into custody.

The extremists allegedly left a letter in the name of Maoist State official representative Jagan, demanding that the State government stop fake encounters and combing operations in the forests.

The kidnap occurred just a couple of days before the Warangal parliamentary by-election is scheduled and on a day when Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was campaigning in the district. KCR has in fact been camping in Warangal for the past two days.

Efforts for the safe return of the abducted TRS leaders are on, as the Chief Minister is in Warangal.