In T’gana, PM Modi slams TRS over family politics amid protests

Vibha Sharma

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New Delhi, November 12

It was a mega face-off between the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the opposition BJP in Telangana with Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao once again did not receive Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Begumpet airport in Hyderabad.

As banners reminding the PM of “fake promises” greeted him, he took a direct dig at KCR, accusing him and his party of “betraying” the people who trusted it.

PM Modi was in Hyderabad to unveil several development projects.

Lays stone for projects in Andhra, T’gana

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday laid the foundation stone for multiple projects in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
• Inaugurating a fertiliser plant at Telangana’s Ramagundam, he said a new India presented itself to the world with self-confidence and aspirations of development
• He also unveiled the Bhadrachalam Road-Sattupalli rail line and laid the foundation stone for three national highway road projects
• In Andhra, he laid stone for the Andhra Pradesh section of Greenfield Raipur-Visakhapatnam Economic Corridor; he opened the U-field Onshore Deep Water project of the ONGC

“The outfit that Telangana people trusted the most is the party that betrayed the state,” PM Modi said, adding the state needed a government that would work for every family instead of only one.

TRS leaders claimed there was no invitation from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to the CMO and accused the Centre of insulting KCR, while BJP leaders said the Chief Minister was “not interested in the state’s development”.

Lotus will bloom in Telangana

In recent times, bypolls have sent out a clear message that the sunrise is not far in Telangana. Darkness will vanish. Lotus will bloom everywhere in Telangana. —Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

Addressing BJP cadres, the PM told them to not be perturbed by the abuses against him. “Laugh at such abuses, sip a strong tea, work for a better morning where the lotus flourishes in the state. When the darkness spreads, lotus starts blooming…Sun will rise and lotus will bloom in Telangana,” the PM said.

“People often ask me, don’t you get tired by working hard every day. I tell them I get two-three kg of ‘gaalis’ every day which work as nutrition for me. Abuse me and the BJP, but don’t dare to abuse the people of Telangana,” he said, accusing the TRS government of being anti-poor and anti-development and stalling projects launched by the Centre.

The TRS and the BJP are engaged in a fierce fight over political control of the state. While the BJP sees a good potential for itself in the southern state where it won four out of 17 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, KCR is nurturing national ambitions for himself and his party in the 2024 General Election.

“Some (leaders) are trying to make an alliance of the corrupt but people will not allow that,” PM Modi today said, while having a dig at KCR (without naming him) for encouraging “superstition and corruption”.

The BJP-TRS fight has intensified since the Munugode bypoll. PM Modi lauded BJP cadres for the party’s performance in the bypoll, which was otherwise won by the TRS following a high-voltage contest.