With the surrender of Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) has lost not just its ideological heft but also its communications and people’s connect in South Bastar.

Officially a Politburo and Central Military Commission member, Sonu, 70, was the ideological head of the party as well as its communication specialist and the thread that connected it to the world outside the forests of Chhattisgarh, intelligence sources told The Indian Express .

A B.Com graduate hailing from Peddapalli in Telangana, Sonu is the brother of slain Maoist leader Mallojula Koteshwar Rao alias Kishenji, who was killed in 2011. “Sonu and others were inspired by the Radical Students Union and the People’s War Group,” an intelligence source said.

“Sonu used to have ties with the

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