In a letter sent to the Chhattisgarh government, the Bolangir-Bargarh-Mahasamund (BBM) division of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) has offered to lay down its arms and surrender before the authorities.
In the letter, the BBM division that was active along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border said 15 of its members were willing to join the mainstream and asked Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma to broadcast a message on radio guaranteeing their safety.
Speaking to reporters on Monday (February 23, 2026), Mr. Sharma, who holds the Home portfolio, acknowledged the receipt of the letter and said that he would issue a message on radio.
The purported letter attributed to Vikas, the west sub-zonal secretary of the Maoists, stated that the cadres would come out of their hideous on March 2 or 3 after the radio message would be broadcast.
It adds that the cadres had been planning to surrender earlier but had held back on the plan because they wanted to follow the whole party into surrendering to the government. Notably, Tippiri Tirupati, also known as Devji, the general secretary of the Maoists, along with senior leader Malla Raji Reddy and a few others surrendered in Telangana’s Asifabad district on Sunday (February 22, 2026).
