Walk the talk, TRS tells PM Modi

Hyderabad: Did the Centre violate the protocol for the proposed visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the Ramagundam Fertiliser Factory on November 12? Is it not an official function? Did the Centre not invite the state government to participate in the inauguration?

Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on Tuesday said that the Centre had sent an invitation for name sake. It appears they do not want the CM to attend the function. Telangana has a share in the Fertilizer Factory at Ramagundam. Hence, the Chief Minister should have been the main guest next to the Prime Minister for the event. But the Union Government had failed to follow this protocol. He demanded that the Prime Minister should announce release of funds for Telangana before inaugurating the fertiliser factory.

The TRS in a series of tweets said, "People of Telangana are asking the Prime Minister… Sir will you come to Telangana with empty hands or will you bring something for the state? What will you say about the injustice being done to Telangana? What has happened to the promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act? When will you give the funds recommended by the NITI Aayog?

The BJP leaders on the other hand say that the TRS was trying to find an alibi to skip the PM's meeting. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had avoided receiving PM on many occasions in the past saying that they were not official functions.

On the other hand, CPI state secretary K Sambasiva Rao said that PM Narendra Modi did not have any moral right to visit Telangana. He asked what Modi did for the sake of Telangana during the eight-year rule. Modi was selling out all the public sector companies in the country and that the CPI will strongly oppose the PM's visit to the state, he said.