HYDERABAD: For the fifth consecutive time, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will not be receiving Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he arrives in Telangana on Saturday to inaugurate the Ramagundam Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (RFCL).
“There is no invitation from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO). Normally, the PMO will invite the chief minister to be present as a guest at an official programme. However, the Ministry of Fertilisers and Chemicals asked the chief minister to participate in the Ramagundam programme and as such, it is not an invitation. The CM was insulted thrice by the PMO when he was not extended an invitation,” Government Whip Balka Suman alleged.
Modi, after landing at Begumpet airport, will address a crowd mobilised by the BJP and later proceed to Ramagundam to inaugurate the RFCL. He will also dedicate to the nation the 5.10-km-long Bhadrachalam Road–Sattupalli new railway line.
However, the CM will neither receive Modi at the Begumpet airport nor attend the official programme at RFCL. It may be mentioned here that after he differed with the policies of the Narendra Modi government, Rao has been avoiding receiving the PM during his visits to the State.
Almost two years to the day –– November 2020 to be precise –– there was no invitation extended to Rao when Modi visited Bharat Biotech. The CM skipped meeting the PM when Modi arrived in Hyderabad to participate in the unveiling of the Statue of Equality at the Chinna Jeeyar ashram and later the same day, attended the 50th anniversary of ICRISAT.
TRS leaders claimed that there was no invite to the CM. They also alleged that some BJP leaders impressed upon the organisers of the Statue of Equality not to invite Rao. The CM did not receive Modi when he participated in a programme at ISB in May 2022. Addressing the BJP workers at Begumpet airport in May this year, Modi launched a scathing attack on Rao and the TRS. This time too Modi is expected to address the party workers at the Begumpet airport.
Rao also did not receive the prime minister when the latter attended the BJP national executive meetings in June this year. At that time, TRS leaders said that Modi’s tour was purely political and there was no need to follow protocol.“The CM was insulted by not being invited to the programme at Ramagundam,” alleged Balka Suman in Peddapalli.
In Hyderabad, BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar alleged that a conspiracy was hatched under the direction of the chief minister to obstruct the tour of the prime minister. “A chief minister is a person who lacks the culture to receive the prime minister,” Sanjay alleged.