Ex-Maoist ideologue votes in Telangana

Hyderabad: Former Maoist ideologue and popular revolutionary balladeer Gaddar voted for the first time in his life on Friday -- in the Telangana Assembly elections.

Gaddar, 69, cast his vote in Alwal area of Malkajgiri constituency in Greater Hyderabad.

Gummadi Vittal Rao, popularly known as Gaddar, had campaigned against electoral politics till last year when he gave up Maoism and announced that he was joining the political mainstream.

In July, the popular balladeer enrolled himself as a voter. The bare-chested singer campaigned for the Congress-led People`s Front.

He shared the dais with Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu at their election rallies and sang songs.

In the early 1970s, Gaddar had founded Jana Natya Mandali (JNM) to sing revolutionary songs to inspire educated youth to join the Maoist movement or turn sympathetic to it.

Gaddar, who was underground in the late 1980s, survived an assassination attempt in 1997 when assailants fired at him at his house. He blamed the police for the attack.