Telangana CM skips governor's banquet for president

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday stayed away from the state banquet hosted by the governor in honour of President Pranab Mukherjee.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari, and ministers from the two states attended the banquet hosted by Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan at Raj Bhavan.

KCR, as Telangana chief minister is popularly known, along with the governor, had received the president when he arrived here on Monday on southern sojourn for 10 days.

According to official sources, KCR was indisposed and had cancelled all his appointments on Tuesday.

However, at a time when the Telugu states are engaged in a bitter tussle over various issues, the Telangana CM apparently wanted to avoid any meeting with Naidu.

Narasimhan, who is governor of both the states, and Naidu met the president separately at Rashtrapati Nilayam earlier in the day.

Naidu has been pressing the central government to hand over law and order powers to governor in Hyderabad, the joint capital but KCR is strongly opposed to any such move.

KCR had called Naidu a "thief" following leak of an audio tape of Naidu's alleged telephonic conversation with Telangana's nominated legislator Elvis Stephenson.

Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader A. Revanth Reddy was arrested on May 31 while he was handing over Rs.50 lakh to Stephenson to induce him to vote for TDP-BJP candidate in Telangana legislative council elections.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Telangana is reportedly planning to issue a notice to Naidu in the case.

The relations between the two Telugu states hit rock bottom after Naidu alleged that Telangana government is tapping his phone. He had complained to the central government, sought a probe into the phone-tapping and also implementation of section 8 of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, which vests special powers in governor in maintaining law and order in Hyderabad.