HYDERABAD: Dropping a bombshell, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday ‘revealed’ that BRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao wanted to join the NDA after the BJP won 48 seats in the GHMC polls in December 2020.
Speaking at a public meeting in Nizamabad, the PM said: “KCR gave me a beautiful shawl and showed so much love, which is not in his character. Then he told me that the country is progressing under your leadership. We also want to be part of the NDA. I said what next? Support us in Hyderabad municipal corporation.”
Though the Telangana CM offered to join the NDA if the BJP offered its support to the BRS (then TRS) in the hung GHMC, the PM said he rejected the entry of the pink party into the alliance. Earlier, the PM inaugurated multiple development projects in Telangana worth over Rs 8,000 crore, including the 800 MW unit of phase 1 of the Telangana Super Thermal Power Project of NTPC.
Launching BJP’s poll campaign in Telangana, Modi was much more combative than he was two days earlier in Mahbubnagar and was scathing in his criticism of both the BRS and Congress. Dispelling rumours of a tacit understanding between the BJP and BRS, the PM asserted, “Modi will never align with KCR because of his misdeeds.”
He, instead, alleged collusion between the Congress and BRS. He claimed that the BRS funded Congress’ campaign in Karnataka elections using ill-gotten wealth from Telangana and the grand old party would now return the favour.
Accusing the BRS government of looting the funds given by the Centre to the State, Modi said that ‘one family’ has occupied everything in Telangana. Referring to his meeting with Chandrasekhar Rao in Delhi, the PM said the Telangana CM urged him to bless his son KT Rama Rao, whom the former wanted to see as the next chief minister.
“I told him that this was a democracy and asked him whether he was a king to hand over power to his son, and told him clearly that the people would decide who will come to power,” Modi said, noting that the chief minister never looked him in the eye after that.
‘Injustice to south India’
Criticising Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s new slogan “Jitni Aabadi Utna Haq”, Modi felt the idea would not only hurt the minorities but would also be a major injustice to the southern States. “When the judiciary decides the process of delimitation, States with low population will have fewer number of legislators. The southern States have contributed much to controlling the country’s population. But with the Congress’ new ideas, they will be at a loss,” he said.
“The people must be cautious of the Congress, which has nothing to do with the country or society. As the entire country has been rejecting that party, they are now taking the support of some weak regional parties to divide the votes. Now that BRS’ defeat is inevitable, those two parties are getting into a backdoor alliance,” Modi alleged.
Also pointing out that in Tamil Nadu, the State government has taken all the Hindu temples under its control by “grabbing temple properties”, the prime minister sought to know whether the Congress and its allies would do the same to the places of worship of minorities. The Congress and its INDIA allies had blocked the Women's Reservation Bill for the last 30 years, the prime minister said. He added the parties had to support it out of compulsion in Parliament.