Veteran Maoist Kakarala Sunitha, Alias Badri, Surrenders After Nearly Four Decades Underground
A senior leader of the CPI-Maoist Dandakaranya Kakarala Sunitha surrenders to Rachakonda police after 40 years of underground life. Her surrender together with Chennuri Harish is a serious setback to Maoism in Telangana.
In an unbelievable turn of events today, one of the most senior Maoist operatives, Kakarala Sunitha alias Badri, bent out of shape 40 years ago in the CPI-(Maoist) fleet, surrendered to the Rachakonda police. A 62-year-old Sunitha had been a member of the state committee of the Dandakaranya Zonal Committee. The surrender is two months after the death of her husband central committee member Sudhakar in a firefight in Chhattisgarh.
Meanwhile, Chennuri Harish, an area committee member of the Telangana state committee, gave in as well when she was aged 35. Both brought rewards- 20 lakh on Sunitha and 5 lakh on Harish- which shows the symbolic value of the handover.
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Sunthas ideological transition commenced in 1985 under the strong influence of her father, writer Kakarala Satyabrata and the milieu infused with the radical intellectuals such as P. Varavara Rao and Gaddar. By 1986, she had become an underground activist, beaming to the CPI-ML (People?s War Group). She was quick to move up the ladder and was one of the key organisers in Vijayawada where she met and subsequently married Sudhakar who was a key figure in the 2004 peace talk with the united Andhra Pradesh government.
Her militant history includes some high profile battles: Veligonda and Bhairavakona in 1991, Pujariguda on the Andhra-Odisha border, and Kutul in 2014. In 2006 she and her husband were sent to strengthen the Maoist network in Dandakaranya. This move to surrender by Sunitha was quite close to the death of her husband in a gunfight in the Annapuram national park in the state of Chhattisgarh indicating an emotional and strategic turning point.
Harish on the other hand joined the Maoists very late. He was recruited in the movement in 2016 as a teenager and became a full member of the party in 2020. This rise in ascent to the area committee membership by 2024 is rapid. It is worth noting that he participated in a number of operations, such as the Irpagutta operation in June and incurred injuries in another incident during 2022. The loss of this leader bodes ill to the insurgency as it spells a further setback.
