Ahead of the press conference convened by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday, September 3 at the BJP Telangana state office located in Hyderabad’s Nampally, the party reportedly restricted access to journalists belonging to T News, Namaste Telangana and Telangana Today. The journalists from these publications were reportedly asked to leave the venue a few minutes before the press meet began. Telangana Today editor Sreenivas Reddy, however, refused to comment on the issue when TNM sought a clarification.
Nirmala Sitharaman is touring the state as part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Pravas Yojana programme. While visiting Kamareddy district on Friday, the Minister courted controversy by seeking an explanation from the District Collector about why Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pictures were not prominently featured in the ration shops when the Modi-led government was, according to her, providing free rice to the poor.
“When we [Union government] are sending everything (rice) for free, without any expense for the state, without transport cost, then why do you object to keeping the photo of such a great leader,” she was seen asking District Collector Jitesh Patel.
The Minister's attitude was condemned by the TRS government and others. TRS working president and Minister for Urban Development KT Rama Rao said he was “appalled” by Nirmala Sitharaman’s conduct with the IAS officer.
However, addressing the media on Saturday, the Union Minister justified her behaviour. When a reporter quoted KTR’s response, she replied, “As a people’s representative I have every business to ask a question. Please point out to me, through that entire conversation before the PDS ration shop, if there was anything objectionable, unparliamentary, or any discourteous language I had used.”
“So as a people’s representative if I ask a question to an administrator and if he is unable to give me an answer... I even went to the extent of saying: ‘Oh if you do not have an answer now, maybe you can answer after half an hour. I said that also,” she said.
Questioning the rationale of demanding Modi’s photo because the Union government has a major share in the contribution of food security, KTR had shared the details of the revenue contribution made by Telangana state to the Union government, he said, “For every Rupee that Telangana contributes to the Nation, we only get back 46 paisa! Madam, time to put up a banner: “Thanks to Telangana” in all BJP states’ at PDS shops.”