Team News Riveting
Hyderabad, October 3
In a statement that is bound to make political turmoil in the poll-bound Telangana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday revealed that Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) had expressed his willingness to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Addressing an election rally in Telangana’s Nizamabad, Modi said he was going to reveal the secret of why Rao had been behaving the way he had been. “Journalists can also check what I am going to say. It is 100 per cent true,” he said, adding that when Greater Hyderabad MC elections happened, BJP won 48 seats. No one got the majority.
“KCR needed support in the MC and you must have seen how until MC polls, KCR used to come to the airport with all the fanfare to receive me and garland me. Then what happened? Why did he stop? Why is he so angry?” Modi quizzed.
He said the reason was his refusal to grant KCR an entry into the NDA. “After Hyderabad MC election results, KCR came to Delhi to meet me, honoured me with a shawl and showered affections that are uncharacteristic of him. He then told me that the country was progressing under my leadership and that he also wanted to join the NDA. I asked him what else he wanted and he said he wanted BJP support in Hyderabad MC,” said Modi.
During his speech, Modi attacked the BRS and the Congress. He accused BRS of corruption and nepotism. “The Congress and its allies in southern states, especially in Tamil Nadu, are looting the wealth of temples but cannot take over the minority worship places,” he said.
The Prime Minister “warned” against a “single family,” referring to KCR’s family as having too much control over the resources and policies of Telangana.
