Union Minister Smriti Irani on Saturday, 2 July, said that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's (KCR) decision to not receive Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the airport – as he arrived in Hyderabad for the BJP’s national executive meeting – was an “insult to the institution.”
Calling KCR a dictator, Irani said that he “violated not only constitutional but cultural traditions” as well, NDTV reported.
KCR recently took a dig at PM Modi and said, "There will be political transformation. No one is permanent. Before (PM) Modiji there were others. People chose their leader who gets to serve the nation. But Modi thinks he is Brahma and is permanent. This is a democracy and change is constant."
He had also dared the BJP to topple his government in Telangana. "I am waiting for that. I will become free and then will topple your government in the Centre," he added.
Irani, using the “dynasty politics” argument hit back at the KCR family and said, “Politics can be a circus for the KCR family, for us it is the medium of national policy... Telangana is doing dynastic politics today. India will never follow this."
Challenging KCR’s claim that Telangana has development model that should be followed across the country, she noted that an organisation that does not “fulfil the responsibility of receiving the PM, which believes that serving a family is a responsibility, can never be a role model for the country,” NDTV reported, quoting Irani.
"One who hurts the dignity of the constitution is a dictator. Today, KCR is a dictator," Irani added.
Modi arrived in the state capital on Friday for the BJP’s two-day national meet, but the TRS president did not reportedly receive him at the airport.
While the city is decked out in saffron posters and hoardings to welcome the entourage, the ruling party, TRS organised their own rally in support of the Opposition's Presidential Yashwant Sinha. The CM also received Sinha at the airport.
(With inputs from NDTV)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)