Evangelist's allegations smack of Naidu's hand: Cong

Hyderabad, June 9 (UNI) The Congress today suspected the involvement of TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu in evangelist K A Paul's allegation that Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had demanded Rs 20 crore from him to fund the 2004 assembly election campaign and he is now facing threats for not contributing to the party (Congrees) fund.

Talking to reporters at the legislature party office here, party Chief Whip N Kiran Kumar Reddy said Mr Paul's relationship with Mr Naidu was well known. Big cutouts of Mr Naidu and Mr Paul were mounted at Kakinada where a meeting, to be addressed by the duo, was scheduled for tomorrow.

Condemning the allegations of Mr Naidu that the money was shared by Congress leaders, Mr Reddy said, ''Paul himself said he had not given the money. But Naidu says money was shared. We demand apologies from both Paul and Naidu.'' ''Mr Paul might be involved in some scam,'' he charged and added that he was levelling ''baseless'' allegations to wriggle out of them.

Referring to Mr Paul's allegation that AICC President Sonia Gandhi tried to scuttle the peace missions of his Global Peace Initiative to Syria, Libya and Venezuela under pressure from the United States, the Chief Whip said, ''There could not be a more silly allegation.'' Stating that religious leaders should stay away from politics and political leaders, he said if Mr Paul wanted to enter politics, he should quit evangelical works and enter politics through the 'front door and not the back.' UNI