A day after Union Home Secretary G K Pillai said Maoists had plans to overthrow the Indian state by 2050, top Naxal leader Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji on Saturday claimed it would be achieved much before that date.
"We will overthrow the Indian government much before 2050," Kishenji told PTI from an undisclosed location.
He claimed the Maoists had their own army with the help of which it would overthrow the Indian state much before 2050.
He said the Maoists had offered a 72-day peace offer and "the question of regrouping does not arise. Chidambaram is trying to divert the attention of the people from the real problem."
He said it was for the Centre to act on the peace offer. "We are fully prepared for a long-term revolution against the government and so we don't need any specific time to restructure ourselves."
On Pillai's contention yesterday that some ex-army personnel were helping Maoists, he said, "We don't need the support of any Aarmy man. For the last 30 years, we know the type of war we do better than any military officer."
Reiterating that the repeated offer of talks by the Maoists had been turned down, Kishenji said, "We have repeatedly offered talks to the government, but it has been turned down."
Claiming that innocent people were being killed in the name of tackling Maoists, he said, "We are trying to save them from state-sponsored terrorism."
He also denied West Bengal Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh's claim that arrested Maoist leader Telegu Dipak had links with ULFA and Kashmir militants.
"A lot of rumours are being spread deliberately about the arrest of Telugu Deepak. He does not have any connection with any terrorist organisation."
He said Deepak was not a member of the Maoist military commission as the ultras did not have any such organisation.
"We have only a state committee, central committee and politburo."
Dipak, he said, was only a state committee member who was in charge of Nandigram.
