HYDERABAD: Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed various issues concerning the state, including release of funds.
Apart from urging Modi to release Rs 1,350 crore as first instalment towards flood relief, the CM stressed on the need to increase the FRBM limit, sorting out pending bifurcation issues, release of GST funds and granting national project status to Kaleshwaram along with approval for lifting of an additional one tmc of water.
The chief minister said the state government has already submitted a detailed report to the Centre on the damages and loss caused by the unprecedented rains in Greater Hyderabad and on the loss of crops in rural Telangana. The CM also sought central assistance to Dindi and Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation schemes on Krishna river.
The meeting between KCR and PM Modi comes after a gap of more than 14 months – the last time they met was on October 4, 2019.
The nearly 30-minute one-on-one meeting was politically significant as the CM was meeting the Prime Minister in the aftermath of the TRS taking a belligerent stand against Modi-led NDA government at the Centre in the recent GHMC elections. The party had also supported the recent Bharat Bandh of farmers.
A senior TRS leader said the CM explained to the Prime Minister about the flood havoc in Hyderabad and how Telangana’s economy took a beating in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
After meeting Modi, KCR stayed back in Delhi. He will return to Hyderabad on Sunday evening but it is not clear yet whether he would meet finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and other Union ministers before returning to city.
KCR will visit the site allocated by the central government for construction of the party office in Delhi on Sunday.
Meanwhile, analysts are not ruling out the possibility of the two leaders discussing political developments in the country. It may be recalled KCR had made known his intentions to form a non-BJP, non-Congress front at the national level to take on the BJP.