Telangana Chief Minister (CM) K Chandrashekar Rao said on Monday, 21 March, that he was in talks with political strategist Prashant Kishor to initiate a "national change" in the country, news agency PTI reported.
"I am in talks with Prashant Kishor to bring a national change. Prashant Kishor is working with me on this. Who can have a problem with this? Why are they seeing him as a bomb? Why are they crying?" the CM said while addressing a press conference in Hyderabad.
Rao also rejected allegations that he had signed a Rs 300 crore contract with Kishor, and called the latter his "best friend."
"Prashant Kishor is my best friend for the last seven to eight years. He has never worked for money. He is not a paid worker. I am sorry you don't understand his commitment to the country," he said.
KCR's Verbal Attacks Against PM Modi
Kishor had met the Telangana CM in the latter's farmhouse last month, setting in motion speculations that efforts to create a common front against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were ongoing ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, reported NDTV.
Over the last few months, Rao has stepped up verbal attacks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. The CM also refused to meet the PM during his visit to Hyderabad last month, claiming that he was unwell.
Talking about the PM's change in attire ahead of different state elections, Rao said, "If it is election time, he has to grow a beard and appear like Rabindranath Tagore... If it is Tamil Nadu, he must wear a lungi. What is this? What does the country get with these kinds of gimmicks? If it is the Punjab election, he will wear a pagdi (turban). In Manipur, it will be a Manipuri cap, in Uttarakhand, it will be another topi (cap), how many caps like this?"
Sources told NDTV that Kishor's political consultancy company I-PAC had started the groundwork for the KCR-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) ahead of the Assembly election in December 2023, and that a formal contract between the party and I-PAC had also been signed.
Kishor and his team at I-PAC had recently assisted the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) win a thumping majority in the West Bengal Assembly election conducted in 2021.
(With inputs from PTI and NDTV.)
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