T'gana CM Chandrashekar Rao meets PM Modi, holds discussion on various pending projects

TRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday here and discussed various pending projects, including national status for the Kaleshwaram irrigation project.

This is the first meeting between the chief minister, popularly called KCR, with Modi after the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) retained power in the state with a huge mandate in the recent Assembly election.

The meeting came a few days after Rao met his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik on Sunday and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday in an effort to forge a non-Congress, non-BJP front ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

In the hour-long meeting, "the chief minister discussed various issues pertaining to pending projects of the state," an official statement said.

The state government said the prime minister responded "positively" to KCR's request.

At the meeting, the chief minister discussed about transfer of a polo ground land in Hyderabad for construction of a new secretariat, release of Rs 450 crore for backward districts and national status for the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project.

Among others issues, Rao discussed about referring petitions of Telangana to Krishna River Water Disputes Resolutions Tribunal, resolution of bifurcation of Schedule 9 and 10 institutions under the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act, sub-categorisation of scheduled caste and expeditious completion of railways projects.

The Telangana chief minister further demanded revival of the Cement Corporation of India plant in Adilabad district, development of Kakatiya Mega Textile Part at Warangal with a sanction of Rs 1,000 crore and the National Investment and Manufacturing Zone in Zaheerabad in the state.

He also sought setting up of Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Karimnagar district, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Hyderabad, 21 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in new districts, besides sanction of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in the state capital.

The TRS chief, who is in Delhi since Monday night, also plans to meet Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati.

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav has said that he would meet Rao in Hyderabad after January 6 as he could not be in Delhi on December 25 and 26 as planned earlier.

The TRS chief had planned to meet Akhilesh Yadav here at the residence of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

It may be noted that the TRS has hired a special aircraft for a period of one month for Rao's trips to various places.