Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao will not receive prime minister Narendra Modi when the latter lands at Hyderabad's Begumpet airport on Saturday, making it the third time in six months that the chief minister will not have followed the protocol of receiving the prime minister.
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According to a note shared by the Telangana government, PM Modi will land in Hyderabad at 2:55pm, and will be received by the state's animal husbandry and fisheries minister, Talasani Srinivas Yadav. The minister is a leader of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), and has been directed by the chief minister, who also heads the TRS, to receive the prime minister.
PM Modi will be in the southern state's capital city to attend the 2-day national executive meeting of his party – the BJP – which will end on Sunday.
However, the Telangana CM, also known by his initials KCR, will be at the airport to receive another visitor, the joint Opposition's presidential candidate, Yashwant Sinha, who will arrive in the IT city some two hours before the PM's scheduled arrival.
{{/usCountry}}However, the Telangana CM, also known by his initials KCR, will be at the airport to receive another visitor, the joint Opposition's presidential candidate, Yashwant Sinha, who will arrive in the IT city some two hours before the PM's scheduled arrival.
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KCR has pledged his party's support to Sinha for the July 18 elections, in which the former Union minister and ex-BJP leader is pitted against former Jharkhand governor Droupadi Murmu, the candidate of the BJP-led ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
In recent months, KCR has been a vocal critic of the Union government, and slammed it as recently as last month, when he spoke out against the newly-launched Agnipath military recruitment scheme; several states, including Telangana, witnessed violent stir against the policy.
In February, CM KCR was absent when PM Modi visited Hyderabad. In February, he flew to Bengaluru even as the prime minister visited Hyderabad to attend ceremonies marking 20 years of the city-based Indian School of Business (ISB).
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Meanwhile, the saffron party's national executive meeting in Hyderabad comes almost a year before the state goes to polls, and the general elections in 2024.