VIJAYAWADA: CPI state secretary K Ramakrishna has demanded a CBI probe into ‘note for vote’ and ‘phone tapping’ scandals and accused the chief ministers of AP and Telangana of using the issues to sow differences in the minds of the people of the Telugu states.

Speaking to mediapersons here Sunday, he said both the chief ministers are at fault for encouraging defections and now their ‘holier than thou’ attitude is laughable.

He said both the ‘note for vote’ and ‘phone tapping’ scandals are a danger to the democratic set-up and the CBI should investigate the cases in depth and bring the culprit to book. He said if the allegations against Chandrababu Naidu are proved, he should step down as Chief Minister.

Ramakrishna wondered why Naidu is wasting precious time on such issues, when there are far more important things to do. “Why he is not bringing pressure on the Central government to ensure that all the promises made during the state bifurcation are kept,” he demanded to know.

He flayed the vindictive attitude of both the AP and Telangana governments towards the media and their efforts to control it. “If one government had seen that a TV channel is not aired in the state, the other has ensured that another TV channel met the same fate in the state governed by it. We condemn the attitude,” he said.

The CPI leader said a regional meeting of the party on special category status, special package for backward regions in the state was held in Rayalaseema and a similar regional meeting will be held in Uttarandhra on June 26. “We willhold a special conference of the party in Kakinada on July 6 and 7 to discuss the next course of action,” he explained. CPI leaders P Harinath Reddy and J Willson were present.