KTR accuses PM Modi of according step-motherly treatment to Telangana

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president and Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao (KTR) attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, 27 September, stating that the Prime Minister has no moral right to visit Mahbubnagar district. This comes after the central government denied national project status to the recently inaugurated Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS), which aims to provide irrigation facilities to the region, as reported by the Deccan Chronicle (DC). Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to speak at a public rally in Mahbubnagar on 1 October.

KTR accused the central government of meting out step-motherly treatment to the Kaleswaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) in the state by not recognising it as a national project. He also highlighted that the Centre had conferred national status on the Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh and the Upper Bhadra Dam in Karnataka, according to the DC report.

The BRS leader was quoted in the report as saying that Prime Minister Modi "repeatedly and in an unwarranted manner insults the sacrifices made by Telangana youth for a separate state by questioning the bifurcation process. He owes an apology to the people of Telangana," the leader said.

KTR also took issue with Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan's decision to reject the Cabinet's recommendation to nominate two party leaders—one each from the Most Backward Classes and Scheduled Tribes—as Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) in the Governor's quota.

The Governor had said that the two nominations were of politicians and that they had no record of doing social work. In response, Rama Rao stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had double standards, which had allowed politicians like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Suresh Prabhu, along with other leaders from Uttar Pradesh, to the Rajya Sabha and state Legislative Councils under the President's and Governor's quotas, the DC report noted.

Touching upon the subject of Congress's six guarantees in the state, KTR said that Rahul Gandhi was not confident of winning the elections in Telangana. Praising the work of his party, KTR stated that Chief Minister KCR will do more for the welfare of the poor than anyone else in the country, according to the DC report.