Friends in Telangana, Foes in Keralam: Strange relation of Congress and CPI

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s sharp criticism of the CPI during his campaign in Keralam has triggered discontent within the CPI’s Telangana unit. His remarks equating votes for CPI and LDF with support for the BJP drew strong rebuttals from CPI state secretary Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao.

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy seems to have forgotten that the Communist Party of India (CPI) is in a political alliance with the Congress in Telangana. His unbridled criticism of the CPI in Keralam has not gone down well with the Communist Party in the Telugu state.

Chief Minister Reddy is currently participating in the poll campaign for his party in Keralam and during one of his whistle-stop meetings in Nemom constituency of Keralam state, he told the people not to vote for CPI and if they did, their vote would go to the BJP in Delhi.

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His appeal to Keralam voters was that “if you are casting your vote for LDF or Pinarayi Vijayan, then your vote is going to reach Narendra Modi in Delhi. There is no difference between Pinarayi Vijayan and Narendra Modi,”

This assertion has indeed touched a raw nerve in the CPI unit of Telangana on Wednesday and the CPI legislator and state secretary Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao rebutted Revanth Reddy’s criticism.

“It was unfortunate that he had compared Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan with Adani and others. This was highly objectionable,’ Rao told a press conference here on Wednesday.

“Revanth Reddy’s criticism in one State election is likely to have an impact on the entire INDIA alliance across the country. This will favour the BJP,”
Sambasiva Rao felt.

The Chief Minister can expose and criticise the Kerala government for its failures but resorting to individual criticism was uncalled for, he added.