Telangana CM denies calling Modi a fascist

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao Sunday denied calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a fascist.

"I only said if the central government gives powers to governor which the constitution has not given, this will be a fascist action of the government," he clarified while addressing a news conference.

The chief minister had criticized the central government after union home ministry sent a letter to the state, suggesting some norms to vest special powers to Telangana governor for maintaining law and order in Hyderabad, the common capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Terming the move "unconstitutional", the Telangana government insisted that the governor can act only on the advise of the council of ministers.

KCR, as Rao is popularly known, said that constitution needs to be amended to give special powers to the governor. "The governor of Telangana has no extra powers than governor of any other state," he said.

He did not agree that Andhra Pradesh Bifurcation Act 2014 gave special powers to the governor. According to him, the act only reiterated the constitutional provision.

Claiming that he has full knowledge of drafting of the bill, KCR said the reference to the constitutional provision about governor's powers was included to satisfy leaders from Seemandhra opposing formation of Telangana state.

KCR denied receiving any letter from the central government seeking clarification about the household survey scheduled in Telangana on Aug 19. Appealing to people to participate in the survey, he said nobody should have any apprehensions about it.

"It is not being done to target people from Andhra. The purpose is to identify the real beneficiaries of welfare schemes and to weed out the bogus ones," he said.