Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated development projects worth over Rs 56,000 crore at Adilabad in Telangana on Monday. However, it was not the projects but the bonhomie between the PM and chief minister A Revanth Reddy that caught everyone by surprise.
Besides the two belonging to rival parties, Revanth’s behaviour was a sharp contrast to that of his predecessor, Bharat Rashtra Samithi founder K Chandrashekar Rao. When his government was in power, KCR skipped almost all the programmes by the Prime Minister. He would not receive PM Modi at the airport and would send a minister instead.
The BJP would frequently lambast the then chief minister for not following protocol and meeting the PM. However, the criticism had little effect on KCR and he kept away from all programmes that involved the Prime Minister.
That is why, when Revanth Reddy accorded a warm welcome to the PM and even called him “big brother”, it became a talking point. “The Prime Minister is like a big brother. With the guidance of the big brother, the chief ministers in the country can put their states on the path to progress,” Revanth said.
The chief minister made it clear that the Telangana government was choosing the path of cooperation with the Centre rather than that of confrontation.
“We want to take part in the PM’s vision of a Rs 5 trillion economy. We want to take Telangana forward just like the PM did in Gujarat,” Revanth Reddy added.
The new Congress government’s friendly attitude towards the Centre was evident right from the time it came to power. The previous BRS regime had disputes not only with the PM but with governor Tamilisai Soundararajan too.
There were frequent skirmishes over the government not inviting her to events like Republic Day. The Congress government, however, chose to bury the hatchet and has cooperated with the governor’s office wherever necessary.
Last December, the chief minister met the Prime Minister in Delhi and submitted a list of pending issues.
Revanth made his government’s strategy evident at the Adilabad event on Monday. “Politics should take place only during elections and not during development. The state and central governments should not fight and instead maintain cordial relations. This is the reason we met the Prime Minister and union ministers without any contention. My government respects those who are in constitutional posts,” the CM added.
Revanth appealed to Modi to cooperate in the development of the Hyderabad Metro and Musi Riverfront Development Project. He also requested support in setting up a semiconductor industry in the state.
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