VIJAYAWADA: Left parties in the State have suffered a dent in their reputation of being crusaders against corruption, when the CPI admitted into its fold a senior leader, who was expelled by the CPM on charges of corruption. P Jammalaiah, a state secretariat member of the CPM, was expelled from the party by state secretary V Srinivas Rao, after charges of graft were reportedly proved against him in an internal inquiry. He joined the CPI the very same day he was expelled, leading to unease in the relations between the two communist parties.
Not so long ago, at the CPI Congress held in Vijayawada, focus was heavily on left unity, fight against corruption and alleged crony capitalist policies of the Central government. Jammalaiah episode, though a ‘minor’ matter in the larger scheme of things, has left the left leaders red-faced. “It would not have mattered had he joined any other political outfit after being expelled from the CPM. But, CPI taking him in, even after being aware of the reason for his expulsion, is a mater of concern,” a senior leader of the CPM told TNIE.
Jammalaiah, who hails from Mylavaram in NTR district, had been with the CPM as a farmer leader for several years. He was inducted into the party state secretariat just nine months ago. However, just after a few months, the party’s state leadership received complaints that he was engaging in corrupt activities.
Taking serious note of the issue, the party leadership ordered an internal inquiry against Jammalaiah. After a through probe spanning five-six months, graft charges against Jammalaih were reportedly proved. When confronted, he allegedly admitted some and denied other allegations, but “by and large, it was established he had indulged in corruption,” the CPM said.
“There are only two types of irregularities he could have engaged in our party. One is misuse of the party and its frontal organisations’ funds and second, is collecting funds from companies in the name of the party and using them for personal use. It was proved that Jammalaiah had engaged in both,” CPM state secretary Srinivas Rao said.
Expressing dismay over their close ally CPI allowing the person they have expelled to their fold, Srinivas Rao lamented that he was at a loss for words to react on the development.When contacted by TNIE, a senior leader of CPI state unit termed the issue minor in nature and said there not much to discuss about it. He refused to elaborate but confirmed that Jammalaiah would be given a suitable post in the party in future.