Sharply reacting to the TRS's criticism which had termed the national executive meeting of the BJP taking place in Hyderabad as a "circus", Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani on Saturday, July 2 said that politics could be a circus for the TRS but not for BJP. "For us, it's a medium for social emancipation and nation building," she said. A day earlier, Telangana Minister and TRS working president KT Rama Rao had remarked that the BJP national leaders who are attending the executive meeting — in the state that will go to polls next year — were "political tourists". Undermining their meeting, KTR asked the BJP leaders to have Hyderabad biryani and Irani chai, and leave the state.
Union Minister Irani also slammed Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for "violating protocol” by not receiving Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he arrived in Hyderabad. She claimed that the CM has not insulted an individual but an institution. "KCR ji not only disrupted what has been constitutionally a federal protocol; it reflects on his personality," she said. The TRS had hit back at the BJP saying that it was not protocol for a Chief Minister to receive the Prime Minister who is participating in a political meeting.
CM KCR, while endorsing the candidature of Yashwant Sinha for President, accused the BJP of practising autocratic politics and said it was intent on breaking governments, referring to the recent political crisis in Maharashtra. Responding to KCR’s remarks, Irani claimed that it was KCR who was practising autocracy and has been violating the protocol. Taking a dig at the Telangana model of development, she said that the state’s development is steeped in corruption.
Earlier in the day, during an interaction with the media, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur slammed the Telangana government, alleging that the law and order in the state was deteriorating. "Minor girls are being raped and political bigwigs are involved in these crimes. For the IT industry to grow, maintaining law and order is a necessity. It is their responsibility to stop this," he said.
Further criticising the growth claims of the state government under the TRS, he said that Telangana has a debt of Rs 2.50 lakh crore. Alleging misappropriation of funds from the Union government, Thakur alleged that KCR's family mismanaged funds worth Rs 87,000 crore disbursed towards irrigation projects. "They may be able to hide behind it, but the people know the reality. The Chief Minister is accountable to the people. But he sits in his farmhouse and has no answers," he said. Talking about the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, he said that the primary contest in Telangana would be between the BJP and TRS.
BJP Telangana unit president Bandi Sanjay Kumar claimed that the people of the state are fed up with the "misrule" of the TRS government and are looking for a change. He alleged that CM KCR is "running away" whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state. "You (KCR) have increased power bills, bus charges, property tax and all. People are fed up with your misrule. That's why they are looking for a change. We will put an end to your 'naya Nizam' rule," Bandi Sanjay told reporters.
With PTI inputs