According to police sources, the central committee of the CPI-Maoists comprise 32 members — 18 from the PWG and rest from the MCC. In West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa there is a rift between the PWG and the MCC factions that had merged to form the CPI(Maoists).

At a time when Kishenji has welcomed Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s initiative of holding a meeting in Lalgarh and given a nod to the proposed dialogue, a senior area commander of the CPI-Maoists at Ayodhya in Purulia issued a press statement claiming Mamata’s meeting as insignificant because she is yet to clear her stand as Union Minister on Maoists as well as Nandigram. Incidentally, the squad operating in Purulia is led by Dwijen Hembram, an MCC member.

A Maoist leader close to Ganapathy, secretary of central committee CPI Maoists, said: “Even though the two factions merged, differences remain. Earlier the difference was negligible, but now they were unable to reach a consensus regarding the talks. The Central government does not appear to be very serious either. So, this is nothing but a media gimmick.”

In his press statement Kishenji mentioned Swami Agnivesh, Gautam Navlakha, Arundhati Roy and Kabir Suman as possible mediators. He said he did not have any problem if Mamata mediated.

However, Delhi-based rights activist Gautam Navlakha said, “The CPI-Maoist’s stand on the peace talks has always been that they want their senior leaders like Kobad Gandhy and Narayan Sanyal, who are in custody, to start the process. I do not understand why they need a mediator. And if they do, Mamata is the best person to initiate the process as she is a Cabinet minister and can convince her colleagues on the issue. But choosing a mediator can also be a part of the plot of tracking senior Maoists leaders like Azad and killing them.”

Swami Agnivesh, on his part, said, “I do not have problem becoming a mediator, but for that Kishenji has to send a letter to me mentioning two-three dates from when they want to start a mutual ceasefire for 72 days. I would request Kishenji to go through the two letters which Union Home Minister P Chidambaram sent to me and which I wrote to Azad. Then he can understand that initially, they need to declare a short-term ceasefire and later go for a long-term ceasefire to prepare the atmosphere for talks. I have a humble advise for Kishenji that he should not put any conditions before the Centre except the demand of a judicial inquiry into Azad’s killing.”

After the peace talk fiasco in Andhra Pradesh in 2004, the MCC leadership was critical in the 9th Congress of the CPI-Maoists in Jharkhand in 2009.

“Every time the CPI-Maoists responds to the peace talk proposal by the Centre, they put several conditions which they know cannot be fulfilled. We have received specific inputs that Azad was the only person in the central committee who was serious about the talks. But he was killed

in an encounter. There were more than 10 members in the central committee who opposed Azad’s thinking,” said a police official dealing with the Maoists.

‘Talks offer’ not made directly, may be ‘ploy’: Centre
New Delhi: Maintaining that the Maoists had not made any offers for talks or ceasefire directly to the government, the Centre on Wednesday reiterated its position that it would only engage in talks with the ultras if they abjured violence.

Government sources further said that this latest ceasefire offer could well be a ploy by the Maoists to regroup and that there will be no let-up in the ongoing anti-Maoist operations in the worst-affected areas.

Officials further said that this latest offer appeared to be more of an attempt by the Naxals to create confusion in the government. “It is only when they are under pressure that they offer to talk,” an official said.