HYDERABAD: Demanding that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao apologise to the people of Telangana for not participating in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s programmes during his visit to Hyderabad on Saturday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar asked the chief minister to explain the reason behind his absence.
Speaking to the media after the public meeting at Parade Grounds, Sanjay said a chair and shawl were kept ready for the CM, hoping that he would turn up for the event. “Yesterday itself, I had requested the CM to attend the programmes, and I even assured him that he will be felicitated by the PM. The CM has continuously been criticising the PM and the Centre for not cooperating with the State government. But in reality, it is the CM who doesn’t want development in Telangana,” he said.
Reiterating Modi’s statement that politics needed to be kept aside after the elections for developing the States, Sanjay said that the Union government was committed to the development of Telangana.
Telling people that the State government has been arresting and imprisoning the BJP workers and leaders who were fighting on behalf of Telangana residents, the Karimnagar MP asked them to support the BJP in overthrowing the ‘corrupt, arrogant, autocratic and family rule’ prevailing in the State.
However, Sanjay, who is out on bail in the SSC question paper leak case, received a warm welcome and was carried by supporters on their shoulders till the VVIP gallery as soon as the Karimnagar MP entered the venue for the public meeting, Parade Ground. Many people were also heard raising slogans in support of him and they even called him the ‘Tiger of Hindus’ and ‘the next CM.’
In the end, his supporters took him on a victory lap on their shoulders. MLA Eatala Rajender was treated to a ‘victory lap’ in a similar fashion.
Even when the prime minister arrived at the Begumpet Airport, he patted Sanjay Kumar on his shoulders and exchanged pleasantries. He lauded the efforts and initiatives of Sanjay to strengthen the party in the State.
Special guests meet PM
Apart from the PM flagging off the Secunderabad to Tirupati Vande Bharat Express, platform number 10 at the Secunderabad Railway Station was also the site for interaction between Modi and the staff working at the BJP State head office in Nampally.
The prime minister also interacted with schoolchildren who had boarded the first coach of the Vande Bharat Express before it was flagged off. He spent around five to six minutes interacting with the students, who were seemingly excited while talking to Modi.