HYDERABAD: After a high-pitched blame game and bitter campaigning in the recently fought GHMC election, it is government-to-government business as usual for Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao who called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Saturday. The Chief Minister reportedly raised several issues relating to Telangana with the Prime Minister during their 30-minute one-on-one meeting.
He is said to have expressed displeasure over the lack of MSP in the new Farm Acts, requested Modi to increase the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management limit to the State and accord national project status to the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme.
He is also said to have sought Central financial assistance for the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme.Meanwhile, the Opposition criticised KCR, who has openly objected to the ‘anti-farmer’ laws, for not calling on the agitating farmers despite being in Delhi.
Meeting comes after bitterly fought polls
Rao, who has been extending issue-based support to the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre, has said time and again that politics and fighting elections are different from government-to-government relations. It may be recalled that when Modi recently visited Hyderabad, the Prime Minister’s Office had informed that the Chief Minister need not receive him at the airport.
Though there was no official reaction from the TRS top brass, the party’s rank and file expressed their ire over the PMO’s attitude for deviating from existing practices. During the GHMC campaign, TRS working president KT Rama Rao came down heavily on Modi for not depositing `15 lakh into the bank accounts of the people as “assured by the BJP”. Despite ideological differences, the Chief Minister sought an appointment with Modi and met him. Incidentally, the TRS government completed two years of its second term on Saturday.