Telangana TRS leader who defected from CPI(M) killed over turf war, say police

A turf war between the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist CPI(M) at the Teldarupalli village in Telangana’s Khammam led to the brutal daylight murder of Tammineni Krishnaiah, relative of CPI(M) state secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram, the police said on Tuesday, August 16. A former CPI(M) member, Krishnaiah had recently shifted his allegiance to the ruling TRS. His political growth and rivalry with Koteshwar Rao, Veerabhadram’s brother, is suspected to be the reason behind the fatal attack. Teldarupalli has been a strong bastion of the CPI(M) for close to five decades.

The shocking murder of Krishnaiah – who is also a close aide of former Minister and TRS member Thummala Nageswara Rao – took place on Monday, just moments after he hoisted the national flag at the Ponnekal Rythu Vedika in Khammam Rural mandal, on the occasion of Independence Day. While he was returning, Krishnaiah was waylaid and attacked by assailants at the Maddulapalli double bedroom house colony near Teldarupalli village. The assailants had reportedly followed Krishnaiah, who was travelling on a bike with his driver, and attacked him indiscriminately using hunting sickles, axes and knives. While the driver escaped with injuries, the former CPI(M) member bled to death. The assailants also severed both his wrists.

The police have arrested eight suspects – Koteswara Rao, Ramzan Shaik, Krishna Jakkampudi, Krishnaswamy Gajii, Lingaiah Nukala, Nageswara Rao Banda, Sreenu Bodapatla, Yellampalli Nagaiah – and registered a case under Sections 148 (rioting),  341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. Koteswara Rao has been named the prime accused.

Speaking to TNM, a senior police officer said that Teldarupalli, which is the native village of Tammineni Veerabhadram, has been under the domination of the CPI(M) for the past 47 years. “Over the past 4-5 years, Krishnaiah’s sons and family have been leaning towards the TRS, after which he too began to move towards the party. He had his own cadre as well. The first tussle between the CPI(M) and TRS took place here when Krishnaiah submitted his nomination papers ahead of the Sarpanch elections,” he said.

According to the officer, the village has historically been electing CPI(M) candidates unopposed, a tradition that came to an end when Krishnaiah challenged the prevailing status quo. Initially, Veerabhadram and his brother Koteshwar had managed to persuade Krishnaiah from entering the fray. But the conflict cropped up again during the Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) elections, when Krishnaiah made his wife Mangatayamma contest the election, and she won with a significant majority, the police said.

Mangatayamma called her husband’s killing is a politically motivated murder, alleging that Koteshwar had previously threatened her husband against contesting in the Sarpanch and MPTC elections. “He threatened us many times in the past. But we contested the MPTC elections and won,” she said. The police’s First Information Report (FIR) states that Krishnaiah joined the TRS three years ago, and that “the accused persons of the CPM party were not unable to tolerate the political growth of the deceased in the village.” Meanwhile, angered by the murder, Krishnaiah’s followers ransacked Koteshwar’s house and vehicles.

Even though the TRS won the state Assembly elections consecutively in both 2014 and 2018, and despite both CPI and CPI(M) not winning any MLA seats, the Communist parties continue to have significant presence in Khammam and Nalgonda districts. The CPI, which was formed in 1925, split into two in 1964 in the backdrop of the Indo-Sino war. “The split led to a turf war and political killings between the CPI and CPI (M), which were mostly restricted to Khammam. It was only in the 1990s that these killings stopped,” recalled senior CPI leader T Lakshminarayana.

“The Communist participation in the Telangana peasant struggle in 1946 against the Razakars – the armed militia under the Nizams – is said to have made them endearing to the masses, with Veerabhadram’s family also having fought against the Razakars,” Lakshminarayana says. The CPI(M) continues to celebrate the role of All India Kisan Sabha, its farmer front, in the region’s peasant struggle. 

However, according to some political observers, the Congress government of 2002 had a hand in making CPI(M) (which was then its political ally) a strong party in Khammam through the delimitation process. It may be noted that CPI New Democracy candidate Gummadi Narsaiah, known as a people’s leader for his participation in various farmers' issues, had won from Yellandu constituency in Khammam for five terms until 2004 (1983, 1985, 1989, 1999 and  2004). However, despite his popularity, Narsaiah could not win any election in Yellandu after 2004.