After CPI (Maoist)'s Politburo Mallojula Venugopal Rao, who had ₹6 crore bounty, surrendered, CM Devendra Fadnavis said backbone of Naxalism in Maharashtra has been broken. Reports claimed Rao was the party's ideological head and connected it to outside world. It was Rao who called for "cessation of armed struggle" to save the party, following which few members called him "traitor".