India, Nov. 19 -- The killing of Madvi Hidma in an encounter with the Andhra Pradesh police at Maredumilli forest near the tri-junction of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa is the latest blow to the Maoist insurgency, which is on its last legs. Hidma, a senior functionary of the CPI (Maoist) and commander of Battalion One, the outfit's elite strike force, was involved in some of the worst massacres by the Maoists in the past couple of decades, including the 2010 Dantewada attack in which 76 CRPF personnel were killed. His death will blunt the strike power of Maoists, who are already reeling under the loss of hundreds of party cadres. In that sense, Hidma's death ranks in importance with the killing of CPI (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao, alias Basavaraju, in police action in Chhattisgarh in May. These killings and the surrender of senior functionaries such as Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Bhupathi in October leave the Maoist movement in disarray, with few fighters and strategists left to battle the security forces, which have been set a deadline of March 31, 2026, to end the six-decade-long Left-wing insurgency. What is striking about Tuesday's encounter is that it took place in Andhra Pradesh. It suggests that the Maoists, cornered in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, where most of the recent encounters have taken place, may be eyeing hideouts in the southern state to regroup. Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana) was the hotbed of Maoism for at least four decades, until the government introduced a comprehensive strategy that combined security measures, rehabilitation packages, and improved delivery of public goods and services to restrict the influence of the guerrillas. The Greyhounds, the anti-Maoist wing of Andhra police, was so successful that the Maoists fled the state to the forests in the Bastar region of neighbouring Chhattisgarh. That said, the Maoists have shown that they are a mobile force; Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will need to be on alert against the rebels, who may seek to relocate, regroup, and rearm in the forests here. Recently, the Telangana committee of the CPI(Maoist) rejected a statement attributed to a senior party functionary that advocated a ceasefire and talks with the government. The death of Hidma is also significant because he, an Adivasi, was part of a younger generation of leaders groomed to lead the outfit. The Maoist movement, its footprint shrinking in the past few years, has been divided in the wake of the killing and surrenders of its top leadership. Hidma represented the section that refused to forgo armed struggle and join the political mainstream. His death will hopefully influence those underground to explore peace options rather than fall to bullets in a losing battle of ideas and firepower....