HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao skipped Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tour programme in Hyderabad on Saturday.
While sources said that Rao was indisposed due to a mild fever, for political watchers, there was a lot of material for reading between the lines. Just two days before the Prime Minister’s visit, the State government nominated Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav to receive and see off Modi.
Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Srinivas Yadav and officials received the Prime Minister at the airport. No Minister was present at the programme at ICRISAT.
The Chief Minister also skipped the unveiling ceremony of Ramanujacharya, exponent of Visishtadvaita philosophy, later in the day.
A message to anti-BJP forces
In fact, Rao neither shared the dais with the PM nor came face-to-face with him, leading political analysts to say that this was nothing but a deliberate indication to anti-BJP forces in the country that he is dead set against Modi and BJP.
Rao has been trying to cobble up a coalition of Opposition parties for his ‘Federal Front’, a third alternative. Towards this, he had been in touch with Left and other regional parties like SP and BSP.
Recently, CPM State secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram said that Rao’s actions would lead people to believe that he is against Modi. Political analysts believe that by skipping meeting the Modi, Rao has sent a clear message to one and all. However, Modi’s critics recalled that when the PM visited Bharat Biotech in November 2020, the CM was not invited. “It’s nothing but a tit-for-tat,” they said.
CM name missing from plaque
Interestingly, TRS sources pointed out that the name of the CM was missing on the plaque at the Statue of Equality in Muchintala Ashram. “Now tell me whether Rao skipped the event or the PM did not want the presence of the CM,” a TRS source asked.
When Modi chaired on meeting on Covid-19 last month, Rao did not attend. On several occasions in the past, chief ministers such as J Jayalalithaa, Mamata Banerjee and others did not receive the PM. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan too skipped the PM’s video conference on Covid-19 in 2020.