Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Telangana on Saturday to participate in official programs in Warangal, including the foundation-laying ceremony for various development initiatives in the state.
According to protocol, the Chief Minister is expected to attend the Prime Minister's official events. However, since September 2021, KCR has been consistently violating this protocol for political reasons.
After the official events, Modi also attended a political program organized by his party. He addressed a large public meeting of the BJP in Warangal.
While it is not uncommon for a Chief Minister to avoid attending programs organized by other parties, the Prime Minister, in his speech, made serious allegations of corruption, dynastic rule, TSPSC question paper leaks, and more against KCR and the BRS government.
KCR is obligated to provide a response to these allegations, as they were made by none other than the Prime Minister. One cannot simply ignore allegations made by a leader of the Prime Minister's stature.
Modi made similar allegations against Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel just a day before. Baghel responded strongly to these allegations and provided a robust counter to Modi.
However, in the case of KCR, he assigned the task of giving a fitting reply to Modi to his son KTR, nephew Harish Rao, other ministers in his cabinet, party MPs, MLAs, and MLCs.
After Modi's tour concluded, KCR addressed a meeting at Telangana Bhavan on Saturday evening. He spoke to party leaders and workers from Maharashtra for about an hour, but he did not mention Modi by name or condemn the allegations made by the Prime Minister.
This has sparked a debate in political circles about whether the Prime Minister's stature is lower than that of the Chief Minister.
In any case, KCR has been consistently avoiding the Prime Minister's official programs, and he is not responding to even the serious allegations made by PM Modi in public.
This raises questions about whether PM Modi's stature is not on par with that of CM KCR in terms of the need for a response, and whether KCR perceives it as such.
