KCR again skips PM’s event in Telangana; BRS hits out at Centre
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, also known as KCR, skipped Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public program in the state. The ruling party in Telangana criticized the central government's alleged apathy towards the Palamuru irrigation project. The Prime Minister was in Telangana to launch various developmental projects. Assembly elections are due to be held in Telangana this year.
Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, popularly known as KCR, on Sunday skipped Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public program to launch various developmental projects in the poll-bound state, as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) hit out at the Centre and questioned it’s alleged apathy towards the Palamuru irrigation project.
The ruling party in the state also reacted sharply to Modi’s remarks that the people of Telangana want a change, saying it is the country that is looking forward to a switch in government.
Assembly elections are due to be held in Telangana this year.
The Prime Minister was visiting the state to lay the foundation stone of multiple developmental projects worth more than ₹13,500 crore and address a public rally in Mahabubnagar.
KCR skipped the event and sent his cabinet colleague, T Srinivasa Yadav, to receive and see off the Prime Minister at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad.
It is not for the first time that the chief minister has given the Prime Minister’s events in the state a miss. Earlier in April, Rao skipped a program despite being invited as per protocol. He did not even receive Modi at the airport upon his arrival.
As the Prime Minister, at a public meeting at Mahabubnagar after the inauguration of the projects, indirectly attacked the state government over alleged corruption and said its people want a change, the BRS said it was not Telangana but the entire country that was looking forward to a change.
In a post in Telugu on X, formerly Twitter, KCR’s son and Telangana information technology and industries minister K T Rama Rao, popularly known as KTR, said: “The people of Telangana know that NaMo means cheating. Not the people of Telangana, the people of the country want a change.”
KTR also said the “steering wheel of the BRS is very much in the hands of KCR but the steering wheel of the BJP has gone into the hands of Adani”.
The state minister claimed the Modi government had given nominal financial assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, and it would be better for the Prime Minister to acknowledge that a smaller and newly-formed state like Telangana had credited ₹72,000 crore into the accounts of 7,000,000 farmers in the last five years.
He described as “a million dollar joke” Modi’s comment that there was no crop loan waiver in Telangana.
“While ours is the true ‘Jai Kisan’ government which waived the crop loans of farmers, yours is the ‘Nahi Kisan’ government which had waived ₹14.50 lakh crore bank loans evaded by corporate giants,” he alleged.
Earlier in the day, prior to Modi’s visit, KTR questioned the Centre’s alleged apathy towards the Palamuru irrigation project at Mahabubnagar.
The minister posted on X a purported video of Modi in 2014 questioning the then UPA government about its callous attitude towards the Palamuru project.
“PM @narendramodi Ji, Back in 2014, you had questioned the UPA Govt about their indifferent attitude towards Palamuru irrigation projects and asked if they were sleeping for 10 years! Today, after seeing 10 years of BJP’s apathy towards Mahabubnagar, I want to show the mirror to you,” he said.
“What assistance did you give to Palamuru irrigation projects in the last ten years? A Big ZERO. That’s exactly the number of seats your party will be given by people of Telangana,” he added.
Veteran Congress leader and former MP V Hanumanth Rao also hit out at Modi for visiting various poll-bound states amid the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur. “Modi talks about empowering women through the women’s reservation bill. But he has not uttered a word about the atrocities being perpetrated on women in Manipur. He is more interested in playing politics than resolving the critical issues,” he said.