Ahead of crucial BJP meet, 'Bye Bye Modi' and 'Adios KCR' claim top spots on Hyderabad streets

A banner, with the phrase 'Enough Modi, spare us Modi' and PM Modi’s image, was placed at a busy junction near the Parade Grounds in Secunderabad

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Hyderabad, Bharatiya Janata Party and Telangana Rashtra Samithi are engaged in a battle of billboards on the streets of Hyderabad-Secunderabad.

After the BJP put up a “Kalvakuntla countdown” clock at its Telangana headquarters, with the caption “Saalu dora; seluvu dora (Enough KCR, adios KCR)”, on Wednesday morning, hoardings with the phrase ‘#ByeByeModi’ were seen throughout the city.

A banner, with the phrase “Saalu Modi, sampaku Modi (Enough Modi, spare us Modi)” and PM Modi’s image, was placed at a busy junction near the Parade Grounds in Secunderabad, where Modi will address a huge gathering on Sunday.

The public meeting would be held following the conclusion of the two-day BJP national executive meeting at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre near Hi-Tech city.

The #ByeByeModi hoarding questions the PM about the “hardships” caused to various sections of society because of its decisions such as demonetisation, contentious farm laws, and Covid-19 lockdown. The hoarding demanded the status report on the promise of Rs 15 lakh in people’s accounts, while the statements on the banner were critical of the centre's PSU privatization plans and the new Agnipath army recruitment scheme.

While the Telangana BJP accused the ruling TRS of trying to embarrass BJP’s top brass coming to the city this weekend, TRS’s social media convenor Krishank Manne defended the signboard.

“If you can stoop to silly levels with our CM Rao's image, we will also put Modi's photos like this in every constituency, village, posing hard questions. We demand the BJP to get the CM photo removed,” Manne said, while wearing a T-shirt with #ByeByeModi print.

However, the #ByeByeModi hoarding, with the Prime Minister’s image, was later removed.

BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh launched the “Kalvakuntla countdown” campaign on Saturday via a website. A billboard with a digital clock—that ticked down by the second—along with Rao’s images, and the caption “saalu dora; seluvu dora” were put up outside the BJP state office in Nampally.

“People are vexed, and are counting the days left for this TRS dispensation to go. We will put up these boards at every BJP office in the state to reflect the public sentiment,” Chugh, also the party's Telangana in-charge, had said.

The digital clock began with 529 days—to countdown till the Telangana state assembly elections in December 2023.

The dora in “Saalu dora; seluvu dora” means feudal lord—an apparent reference to Rao's Velama caste.

The board attracted sharp criticism from TRS leaders.

Meanwhile, the Telangana BJP accused the TRS of abusing power to occupy all publicity space along the roads, leaving not much room for the BJP to promote its national executive meeting, and the presence of party luminaries such as Modi, BJP chief J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the twin cities.