Hyderabad, May 29 -- It was a paradox that the CPI (Maoist) suffered its biggest blow this month - losing general secretary Nambala Kesava Rao and 70 other comrades in encounters - when the party should have actually been celebrating the anniversary of Naxalbari movement, considered the mother of all Naxalite groups.

The encounters have continued unabated for over a year, the latest one having taken place in Palamu district of Jharkhand where a top Maoist commander Tulsi Bhuinya was shot dead on Tuesday (May 27). It was just six days earlier on May 21 that Kesava Rao fell to the bullets of security forces.

In the face of the series of encounters under "Operation Kagar" of the Central government, the CPI (Maoist) has offered peace talks ...