Hyderabad: On Saturday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated development projects for the state of Telangana at an event at the Parade Grounds in Secunderabad — Hyderabad’s twin city — one of the chairs on the dais had been reserved for state Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR).
The chair, however, was removed minutes before Modi arrived at the venue as KCR gave the event a miss. Even in the official plan of Modi’s schedule in Telangana, which ThePrint has accessed, about seven minutes were allotted for KCR’s address — had he attended the programme.
“Of course, an official invitation was sent to the Telangana government. In fact, in their (state’s) internal planning schedule, they had also allotted a few minutes for the CM’s address. So, naturally one would assume he is attending,” a source involved in the planning of the PM’s visit told ThePrint.
Sources also added that there was no official intimation of the CM skipping the event.
When asked why the CM did not attend the programme despite the invitation, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and Rajya Sabha member K. Keshava Rao told ThePrint, “When the state is insulted outside, why should we attend?”. “Whenever such an official programme happens that involves railways specifically the MPs in the state must get an invitation. Not one of our names was on the card. I guess Congress MP Revanth Reddy’s name was mentioned,” Rao claimed.
Modi was in Telangana to inaugurate the Vande Bharat Express connecting Secunderabad to Tirupati and also lay the foundation stone for development projects worth Rs 11,000 crore.
The Prime Minister performed bhoomi puja for the redevelopment and modernisation of Secunderabad Railway Station, which, according to reports, would cost Rs 715 crore.
Then there were bhoomi pujas for six national highway projects to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 7,864 crore and also for the development work at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bibinagar, which is estimated to cost Rs 1,336 crore.
The chief minister did not receive the Prime Minister at the Begumpet Airport on his arrival. Instead, Talasani Srinivas Yadav, the state’s animal husbandry, fisheries and cinematography minister, was sent to formally welcome the PM.
Speaking at the state Saturday, PM Modi said, “I am pained to see how projects are getting delayed because of the state government’s non-cooperation and politics…Those who have always defended corrupt, dynasty politics are now getting worried and stumped seeing our honest work across the country… Corrupt and power-hungry dynasties are blocking central schemes like DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer), they are trying to control the system.”
Modi also told the people of Telangana that they needed to “weed out” corrupt and dynastic politics from the state — a term that the BJP uses to take digs at KCR’s family, which has three elected representatives.
Taking a dig at KCR, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who was at the event with the PM, said, “For the development of any project, we also need the cooperation of the state government, so I request the state to rise above politics & embody sabka saath sabka vikas in spirit.”
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Row over airport visits
This is not the first time that KCR has been absent at the airport at the time of the PM’s visit. It has been a continuous practice over the past two years at least, as relations between the KCR-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government at the state and the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre soured.
Vinod Kumar, former MP and senior BRS leader, has claimed PM Modi, during his visit to the state during the pandemic, had refused KCR’s invitation to receive him at the airport. Speaking to the media Friday, Kumar claimed the PM had asked the CM to “not come” to the airport or programmes thereafter.
Telangana IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao, also KCR’s son, had also in the past claimed that the PM’s office had said the “CM should not come,” when the PM was in town.
This was at the time when Modi was in the state to inaugurate spiritual guru Ramanujacharya’s statue last year and KCR did not receive him at the airport or accompany the PM later on his visit to Covid vaccine manufacturing giant Bharat Biotech’s plant in Hyderabad.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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