Telangana’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president and Minister for Industries and Information Technology, KT Rama Rao, is embarking on a two-day visit to New Delhi where he will hold meetings with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. This visit comes at a significant time as 18 non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties gather in Patna to explore possibilities of alliance ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
While Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, a key proponent of this political unity, decided not to attend the Patna meeting, KT Rama Rao’s meetings in Delhi hold importance in the context of Telangana’s regional aspirations and pending development projects.
This will be Rama Rao’s first meeting with Amit Shah, and it follows his previous visit to the national capital in June 2022 when he met Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri.
A BRS leader familiar with the matter stated that Rama Rao’s visit primarily aims to address various pending projects concerning Telangana. However, the leader clarified that political matters will not be discussed during the meetings with the central ministers.
“The BRS working president will focus solely on issues such as the allotment of defence land at Secunderabad cantonment for the construction of flyovers and skyways, allocation of land belonging to the Home Ministry for road expansion at Rasoolpura, the development of Mamnoor airport in Warangal, central assistance for the expansion of the metro rail network, and other similar matters,” the BRS leader explained.
In response to Rama Rao’s visit, Telangana BJP President Bandi Sanjay alleged a conspiracy, suggesting that the meetings with union ministers, particularly Amit Shah, were a ploy by Rama Rao to leverage developmental works for Telangana ahead of the upcoming state assembly elections.
Sanjay claimed, “It appears KTR wants to blame the BJP government at the Centre if it does not respond to his proposals put forth during the meetings with central ministers just before the elections. He wants to create an issue by stating that the Centre is not cooperating with the state in its developmental programs.”
As KT Rama Rao undertakes his visit to Delhi, the discussions with the central ministers will shed light on Telangana’s aspirations and priorities in terms of pending projects and developmental initiatives. The outcome of these meetings may have implications for the state’s political landscape, as well as for the broader dynamics of alliance formation leading up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Sources By Agencies
