E-Paper
President Murmu begins 5-day visit to Telangana
Interestingly, the chief minister, who had not been seeing eye-to-eye with state governor Tamilisai Soundararajan for a long time, exchanged pleasantries with her and chatted with her for some time, when she, too, accompanied the President at the Hakimpet air station
Hyderabad
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president and Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who had in the past one year ignored protocol formalities during the visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Telangana, followed them when President Droupadi Murmu landed in Hyderabad on Monday as part of her five-day southern sojourn.
KCR, as the chief minister is called, accorded a rousing reception to the President at Indian Air Force station at Hakimpet in the evening, along with his cabinet colleagues and senior BRS leaders, including MPs, MLAs and MLCs, besides assembly speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and Hyderabad Mayor G Vijayalakshmi. He introduced each of them to Murmu.
This was Murmu’s first visit to Telangana after getting elected to the top post in July. The BRS president strongly opposed her candidature in the Presidential elections and supported her rival Yashwant Sinha. KCR had not even met her when she came to Hyderabad for her campaign then.
Interestingly, the chief minister, who had not been seeing eye-to-eye with state governor Tamilisai Soundararajan for a long time, exchanged pleasantries with her and chatted with her for some time, when she, too, accompanied the President at the Hakimpet air station.
However, KCR skipped the ceremonial dinner arranged by the governor in the honour of the President at Raj Bhavan. He deputed his senior cabinet colleagues, including his nephew T Harish Rao, to the dinner.
The chief minister did not follow the protocol when the Prime Minister came to Telangana during the year – whether it was during the inauguration of Statue of Equality of Vaishnavite saint Ramanujacharya in February, 20th anniversary celebrations of Indian School of Business in May, BJP national executive committee meeting in July or the dedication of Ramagundam Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd to the nation in November.
On all these occasions, he deputed his cabinet colleague Talasani Srinivasa Yadav as minister-in-waiting to receive and see off Modi.
Earlier in the morning, Murmu first landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad, where she was received by the governor, Union minister for tourism and culture G Kishan Reddy, and Telangana minister for tribal welfare Satyavati Rathod.
She left for the Srisailam temple in Andhra Pradesh by helicopter and returned to Hyderabad in the evening, for a five-day stay at the Rashtrapati Nilayam.
At Srisailam, Murmu conducted prayers for Lord Mallikharjuna Swamy and goddess Bhramarambika. She was received by Andhra Pradesh governor Biswabhushan Harichandan, chief minster Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and his cabinet colleagues.
On Tuesday, the President will address the students and faculty members of Keshav Memorial Educational Society in Hyderabad. Later in the day, she will visit Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy to address the Officer Trainees of Indian Police Service (74th RR Batch). She will also inaugurate the Wide Plate Mill of Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI) at Hyderabad.
On Wednesday, the President will visit Sri Seetharama Chandra Swamy temple at Bhadrachalam and lay the foundation stone for the development of tourism infrastructure at the temple. She will also inaugurate Sammakka Saralamma Janjati Pujari Sammelan, organised by the Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad as well as virtually inaugurate Eklavya Model Residential Schools of the ministry of tribal affairs at Komaram Bheem Asifabad and Mahabubabad districts of Telangana.
