PM Modi visiting Hyderabad on Thursday; CM KCR to be in Bengaluru

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Hyderabad on Thursday to take part in the Indian School of Business 20th year celebrations.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is likely to avoid greeting PM Modi for the second time in less than four months.

Rao, who has recommenced his “alternative front” tours meeting the regional political leaders across the country, will be in Bengaluru on Thursday to meet JD(S) leader and former PM HD Deve Gowda.

The CM and his party leaders have been fiercely attacking the BJP government at the centre and PM Modi alleging discrimination against Telangana.

When Modi came to unveil the Statue of Equality, a giant statue of Saint Ramanujacharya near Hyderabad on 5 February, Rao had skipped meeting Modi citing “fever” as the reason.

Rao had instead deputed animal husbandry minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav to receive and send off Modi.

Rao's decision had drawn sharp criticism from the opposition BJP which accused him of disrespecting the PM position and the established protocols.

Now too, T-BJP leaders are accusing Rao of “running away from the state on the pretext of “a national mission,” only to avoid facing PM Modi coming to Hyderabad on 26 May.”

“KCR is terribly scared of facing Modi. That is precisely why he fled to New Delhi and from there, he is running from one state to another despite knowing that the PM is coming to Hyderabad,” T-BJP chief Bandi Sanjay said.

Rao was in New Delhi and Chandigarh the last weekend, where he met with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and former CM of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav.

According to the itinerary announced by the CMO last week, Rao will meet Gowda on Thursday in Bengaluru and will go directly to Ralegan Siddhi on 27 May to meet noted social activist Anna Hazare.

Meanwhile, the T-BJP is making elaborate arrangements to accord a grand welcome to Modi. BJP leaders and cadre are upbeat about the visit coming within two weeks of home minister Amit Shah's tour in Telangana.

Shah was in Hyderabad on 14 May to address a public rally organized to mark the culmination of Bandi's second phase of Praja-sangarama padayatra in south Telangana.

Modi's ISB visit

According to ISB dean Madan Pillutla, the PM will attend the graduation ceremony of the Post Graduate Programme Class of 2022 and address the students of both Hyderabad and Mohali campuses.

“Prime Minister Modi will plant a sapling, unveil a commemorative plaque and release the ISB MyStamp and Special Cover. He will also award medals to the academic scholars of excellence,” Pillutla told reporters on Monday.