Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao will reportedly skip Prime Minister Narendra Modi's programme in the state on Saturday, where the latter is scheduled to inaugurate several development projects. As per protocol, an official invitation was sent to the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) inviting KCR to participate in the event, but it was later known that he would not only refrain from participating in the programme but also not receive the Prime Minister at the Begumpet airport during his arrival.
This is not the first time when CM KCR has missed PM Modi's event in Telangana. He had also skipped PM Modi's event in February last year when he arrived in Hyderabad during the inauguration of (ICRISAT)'s Climate Change Research Facility on Plant Protection and Rapid Generation Advancement Facility and 'Statue of Equality' commemorating Bhakti Saint Sri Ramanujacharya.
Meanwhile, KCR's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) tweeted a cynical post questioning PM Modi's 'biased nature' towards Telangana on Saturday. The tweet said, “Why is Prime Minister Narendra Modi biased against our Telangana state? The Telangana community is condemning the Prime Minister.”
KCR's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has been at loggerheads with the BJP for a while now, as the latter is trying to make its presence felt in the state. Assembly elections are due in Telangana this year. Last year, KCR renamed his party from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS). This was seen as the first step taken by KCR towards becoming a national party to counter the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls of 2024. He also made efforts to unite the opposition parties against BJP in the general elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of development projects worth over ₹11,300 crore in Telangana on Saturday. He will also flag off Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express at Secunderabad Railway Station. Modi will also lay the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Secunderabad Railway Station and inaugurate other development projects related to railways.
According to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express, which connects Hyderabad with the abode of Lord Venkateswara, Tirupati, is the second Vande Bharat train to be started from Telangana within three months. The train is expected to reduce travel time between the two cities and improve connectivity.
In addition, the Prime Minister is expected to lay the foundation stone for a multi-level car parking facility at Khairatabad Metro Station, which is expected to provide better parking facilities to the people of Hyderabad. The project is estimated to cost around ₹200 crore.
Other projects that will be inaugurated include the super-speciality hospital at Falaknuma and a 400 kv power transmission line from Nirmal to Hyderabad. The Prime Minister will also inaugurate a new campus of the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) in Rajendranagar, which is expected to provide training and capacity building to rural communities across the country.
The Prime Minister's visit to Telangana is seen as an attempt to boost the BJP's prospects in the state, which has been traditionally dominated by regional parties like the TRS. The BJP has been trying to make inroads into the state and is hoping to win a significant number of seats in the upcoming assembly elections.
However, KCR's decision to skip the Prime Minister's programme is likely to further strain the already tense relationship between the TRS and the BJP.