KCR ko gussa kyun aaya...?

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was conspicuously absent during the reception of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the airport here on Saturday. The Chief Minister, who visited Muchintal to supervise the arrangements for Modi, is said to be down with fever, according to the CMO.

Some highly-placed sources said that PMO has not included the name of KCR in the VIP list which has been finalised by the Prime Minister before attending the 50 years celebrations of ICRISAT and unveiling of 'Samata Murthy', the Statue of Equality.

Modi was here to dedicate to the nation the Statue of Equality commemorating the 11th century Bhakti Saint Sri Ramanujacharya and also to kickstart the 50th anniversary celebrations of ICRISAT.

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Union Minister for Tourism G Kishan Reddy and Telangana Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav were among the VIPs who received Modi at the airport.

However, the state BJP leaders said it was a fallout of the remarks the Chief Minister had made on Prime Minister Modi and the budget at a press conference on February 1.

The BJP leaders said the CM failed to follow protocol and it was an insult to the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar took strong exception to Rao's absence at the airport, saying it was shameful on part of the CM for playing truant to Modi's trip by citing lame excuses.

"It is very much evident that the Chief Minister does not want to show his face to the Prime Minister, as the entire country was abhorring his filthy abuses hurled at the latter. KCR, is this your culture? You claim to have read 80,000 books. Is it that you have learnt from them?" he asked.

Noting that insulting the Prime Minister amounted to insulting the entire nation, Sanjay Kumar said Rao was obviously afraid of facing Modi after hurling so many abuses. His behaviour was an affront to the nation, he slammed.

Describing the Union Budget 2022-23 as a 'golmaal budget' that disappointed farmers, workers and common people, Rao had recently claimed that it was a "betrayal" against the people. Alleging that both Congress and BJP have failed to make the country realise its potential, he (KCR) had said he would make efforts towards bringing about "qualitative change".

Modi is a "very short-sighted Prime Minister" as an arbitration centre for dispute resolution has been proposed to be set up in GIFT City in Gujarat in the budget though such a centre is already being established in Hyderabad, Rao had claimed.