Patna/Gaya, July 6: Maoists operating in India are contemplating formation of a new organisation to spread their base.

The proposal to set up an Asian Maoists Organisation was discussed at length at a secret meeting of top leaders of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) of six states in the forests of Rajgir in Nalanda district on June 27, sources said.

At the meeting, attended by senior Maoist leaders of Bihar, Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, the discussions centred around expanding the support base of the organisation to other Asian countries.

A host of leaders, including “politburo” members Kishan Da and Kodapalli Sitaram Ramaiya and Dantewada “zonal commander” Ramanna Ganesha, were of the view that the bordering areas of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal may be used for expansion.

Vast tracts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh touch Nepal while Bengal has an international border with Bangladesh. “These routes can be used for expansion purposes,” a Maoist leader quoted senior “politburo” members as saying at the meeting. The Maoist leaders suggested the use of states sharing borders with Nepal and Bangladesh for spreading their wings in other Asian countries.

The organisation has already established its links with the Sri Lanka-based Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), whose strength has been severely eroded after its war with the military of the island nation.

The meeting, which lasted for about eight hours, also chalked out the strategy to set free important leaders lodged in different jails of Bihar. The organisation also discussed issues related to changes in their operations.

Sources said that discussions were held on the recent arrest of one of the politburo members, Jagdish Yadav alias Jagdish Masterji, from Guraru police station area in Gaya district. Masterji is lodged in the Gaya central jail while Vijay Kumar Arya, a central committee member, is behind bars at the Bhagalpur central jail.

The meeting approved the Rs 92-crore proposal for modernisation of the outfit. The proposal passed at the meeting was later sent to the central committee for final approval. Under the scheme,sophisticated weapons and ammunition would be purchased to make the outfit more efficient to fight security forces.

Arya, who also belongs to Gaya, was arrested along with two other central committee members from Barsoi police station area in Katihar district in May. The police had seized a laptop and pen drive from the possession of the central committee members. The pendrive contained detailed information about financial transactions and future plans of the Naxalites.

Police officials at Nalanda did not have any information about the secret meeting of the Maoists. “We don't have any information about any meeting of the Maoists in the area falling under our jurisdiction,” said Nalanda’s acting superintendent of police Dilip Kumar Jha.