Tammineni took 15 Crore from YSRC to plot my defeat: Narayana

HYDERABAD: Peeved over CPM not extending support to him in the Khammam Lok Sabha seat, CPI state secretary K Narayana alleged that CPM Telangana unit chief Tammineni Veerabhadram had taken Rs 15 crore from YSR Congress nominee Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy to extend his party's support to him.

Speaking to reporters here, Narayana said though his party had requested CPM state unit to support him in Khammam Lok Sabha polls, Veerabhadram chose to support Srinivasa Reddy.

'There is a talk in Khammam district that the CPM Telangana unit chief took Rs 15 crore from the YSRC candidate and extended support to him.

Even during 1999 polls, Tammineni Veerabhadram ditched CPI candidate Puvvada Nageswara Rao in Khammam and supported Congress candidate. At that time too, it was alleged that Tammineni took Rs 70 lakh from the Congress candidate,' he alleged.

'Its nice to see that a senior Communist leader has improved his self-worth from Rs 70 lakh to Rs 15 crore,' Narayana quipped.

Accusing the CPM of adopting opportunistic politics, Narayana said though YSRC kept CPM away in Seemandhra, it joined hands with it in Khammam.

'It has become crystal clear that CPM has forged alliance with YSRC in Khammam not for political gain, but for monetary benefits,' he alleged.

'Though Congress has asked us to contest the Bhadrachalam Assembly seat, we decided against it as CPM was contesting that seat.

Whereas, CPM which has never contested from Munugode and Deverkonda Assembly seats, even after knowing that our party was contesting those seats, filed candidates there. This shows that party was knowingly trying to harm us,' he alleged.

Taking exception to CPM making an announcement on behalf of his party on taking part in a rally in the city to protest against Mamata Banerjee government's highhandedness during West Bengal polls, the CPI leader said the action of CPM shows its arrogance and unethical behaviour.

'How can CPM state leadership make announcement on our behalf without consulting us? They have never consulted us on the issue and made announcement that we are participating with them in the protest rally. We would take up the issue with that party's leadership,' he said.

'Congress high command made PCC a dummy'

Blaming the Congress high command for party's poor poll performance in Telangana, the CPI state secretary said wrong decisions and poor planning and strategies resulted in the poor show.

'As the Congress high command has made the PCC a dummy by bypassing it and took all major decisions unilaterally, the party suffered a lot during the polls and failed to make an impact on the voters.

Had the party given a free hand to the state leadership, it would have done better,' he remarked. 'TRS has performed well not because of its own capabilities, but due to the failures of the Congress,' he said.

Kiran, JP are 'POLITICAL BUFFOONS'

Describing Jai Samikyandhra Party founder and former chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Lok Satta Party chief Jayaprakash Narayan as 'political buffoons', Narayana said both the leaders do not know what to do and look totally confused.

'On one hand, Jayaprakash Narayan carries the photograph of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi during the polls and on the other he says that prime minister Manmohan Singh and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal are his gurus. He does not know what he is talking,' he said.