Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

Koneru criticises Left stand on N-deal

VIJAYAWADA: “Is the United States of America an untouchable? Why should the Communists oppose even the good that comes from that country,” wondered Minister for Municipal Administration Koneru Ranga Rao on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference to express his ‘happiness’ over the UPA government’s victory in the Lok Sabha, the senior Congress leader wondered what the Left Parties had against a deal that was being endorsed even by a country like China.

Likening the trust vote proceedings to the ‘Kurukshetra’ battle of Mahabharatha, Mr. Ranga Rao said though the Congress did not have the required strength (in numbers) like the Pandavas, it could vanquish the Kauravas (Opposition parties) who were many in number, because it had dharma (justice) on its side.

He said that the money brought into the House by BJP MPs had to belong to them and to nobody else. If the money was, indeed, paid to the BJP MPs as a bribe, why the identity of those who tried to pay it not being made public, he sought to know.

Mr. Ranga Rao said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was “blemishless” and there was no way anyone could make such charges of corruption and bribery stick on him.

It was Congress leaders like P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh who bailed India out of the financial doldrums with their fiscal wizardry.

Mr. Singh had never allowed the Left parties to blackmail him, Mr. Ranga Rao said, because the Prime Minister was not afraid of these parties withdrawing support to the UPA government.

Vijayawada MLA Vangaveeti Radhakrishna, Pradesh Congress Committee executive member Kolanukonda Sivaji and other leaders were present.

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