Revolutionary singer and former Naxalite Gaddar passes away in Telangana

HYDERABAD: Revolutionary singer and former naxalite Gaddar has passed away. He was 77. He died while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Hyderabad. His real name is Gummadi Vithal Rao.

Gaddar, a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), was in hiding in the 1980s. He was also the founder of Jana Natya Mandali, the cultural wing of the outfit. He was not active in the Maoist organization since 2010. In 2017, he severed ties with the Maoists. Gaddar, who opposed elections, voted for the first time in the 2018 assembly elections.

Gaddar had last month formed a new political party called Praja Party and said that he would contest the upcoming elections. Although he had earlier supported the Congress, he later joined K A Paul's Praja Shanthi Party. In 1997, he was attacked by unknown assailants and brought back to life, but was with a bullet lodged in his spinal cord.