Rajanna-Sircilla: Maoist leader Kosa’s laid to rest in native village Gopalraopalli
Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy, alias Kosa, a senior Maoist leader, was killed in a police encounter in Chhattisgarh and laid to rest in his native village Gopalraopalli. His funeral drew crowds after decades of absence, with red flags and slogans marking his revolutionary legacy.
Rajanna-Sircilla: The final rites of Maoist Central Committee member Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy, popularly known as Kosa, were performed at his native village Gopalraopalli in Thangallapalli mandal on Thursday.
Satyanarayana Reddy and another senior Maoist leader, Katha Ramachandra Reddy, were killed in a police encounter in the Abujhmarh forests of Narayanpur district, Chhattisgarh, on September 21. His body was handed over to his brother, Karunakar Reddy, after a post-mortem at the Narayanpur government hospital on Wednesday night.
The news of the body’s arrival drew a large crowd of villagers and people from surrounding areas, many of whom came to see Satyanarayana Reddy after 45 years. Activists of revolutionary organisations, members of Bandu Mitrula Committee and others paid tributes as the body was brought to the village.
The village turned red as supporters carried red flags and put up red-coloured flexies during the funeral procession. Slogans were raised in favour of Kosa and the revolutionary movement. Meanwhile, police deployed heavy security to prevent any untoward incidents.
Satyanarayana Reddy, who studied in his native village, pursued ITI at Peddapalli government ITI in 1978 and apprenticed at Kesoram Cement Factory in Basanthnagar, Ramagundam mandal. During his apprenticeship, he joined the People’s War Group in 1980 following clashes with a rival faction. Before that, he had been jailed in connection with the murder of a cement factory manager and went underground after being released on bail.
In 1996, he was arrested again in Warangal but soon returned underground after securing bail.
According to his brother, Satyanarayana Reddy last spent time with family members during the Ugadi festival in 1980. The very next day, he joined a job in the cement factory. A month later, police informed the family that he had gone underground. Since then, he never returned home until his death.
