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Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao was conspicuously absent during the reception of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the airport in Hyderabad on Saturday.
The absence of the CM at the airport irked the saffron party, which said Rao failed to follow the protocol and 'insulted the prime minister'.
Modi is in Hyderabad to dedicate to the nation the 'Statue of Equality' commemorating the 11th century Bhakti saint Sri Ramanujacharya and also to kickstart the 50th anniversary celebrations of ICRISAT.
Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Union Minister for Tourism G Kishan Reddy and Telangana Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav were among the VIPs who received Modi at the airport.
Sources at Pragati Bhavan, Rao's official residence told PTI that the Chief Minister was not well as he 'is suffering from fever'.
A communication from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) had said Talasani Srinivas Yadav is nominated as the Minister-in-Waiting to receive and see off the Prime Minister during the latter's visit to Hyderabad on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party president Bandi Sanjay Kumar took strong exception to Rao's absence at the airport, saying it was 'shameful on the part of the CM for playing truant to Modi's trip by citing lame excuses.
'It is very much evident that the chief minister does not want to show his face to the Prime Minister, as the entire country was abhorring his filthy abuses hurled at the latter,' he said.
'Mr KCR, Is this your culture? You claim to have read 80,000 books. Is it what you have learnt from them?' he asked.
Noting that insulting the prime minister amounted to insulting the entire nation, Sanjay Kumar said Rao was obviously afraid of facing Modi after hurling so many abuses.
His behaviour was an affront to the nation, he slammed.
Describing the Union Budget 2022-23 as a 'golmaal budget' that disappointed farmers, workers and common people, Rao had recently claimed that it was a 'betrayal' against the people.
Alleging that both Congress and BJP have failed to make the country realise its potential, he had said he would make efforts towards bringing about 'qualitative change'.
Modi is a 'very short-sighted prime minister' as an arbitration centre for dispute resolution has been proposed to be set up in GIFT City in Gujarat in the budget though such a centre is already being established in Hyderabad, Rao had claimed.