Drastically changing political equations between the BJP and the ruling TRS in Telangana seems to be one of the main reasons why Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao decided to give the NITI Aayog meeting on Saturday a miss.
In the first Governing Council meeting of the NITI Aayog held on Saturday after the NDA swept back to power in May, two other chief ministers—Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal and Captain Amarinder Singh of Punjab—are not attending. As far as the TRS founder is concerned, party sources have said Rao is busy with the inauguration of the mega Kaleshwaram Lift irrigation project.
Some TRS leaders have also been saying that in the last NITI Aayog meeting, Telangana had put forward some demands for financial help and change of status of certain prestigious projects. Since none of these were fulfilled, the TRS government did not see any point in attending the meeting, they said. However, there seems to be more reasons for Rao deciding to stay back.
The NITI Aayog meeting is being held in the backdrop of an increasing rift between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rao. Till the Assembly elections, which were held last year, the relations between the two leaders were cordial, so much so that the chief minister and his son and former minister, K.T. Rama Rao, would easily get an appointment with Modi.
It was also thought that the BJP was instrumental in helping Rao in conducting early Assembly elections. However, the relationship soured during the general elections. According to BJP sources, Rao intensifying his pitch for a 'federal front' of regional parties by touring the country and aggressively making statements expressing confidence that Modi will not win again did not go down well with the saffron party.
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During the election campaign, Rao targeted Modi and criticised him for being communal. The election results embarrassed Rao as the BJP won more seats than the Congress, the principal opposition party in the state. Rao's daughter, K. Kavitha, who was the MP for Nizamabad, lost to a BJP candidate.
Rao's own predictions went horribly wrong. He was confident of winning 16 out of the 17 seats in Telangana, but ended up winning just nine. Rao had to eat his own words as he said at several public meetings that the BJP cannot form a government on its own. The entire TRS campaign within Telangana and outside was based on projecting Rao as the prime ministerial candidate. The Lok Sabha results made the party lose face. According to a senior TRS leader, Rao must have thought that it is better to lie low than face other chief ministers or get sidelined knowing well that Modi is not a good friend anymore.
From calling himself the “best friend of Modi”, Rao has now reached a point where getting an appointment with Modi seems difficult. According to sources, an appointment was sought by Rao with Modi almost a week back. The idea of Rao was to meet Modi one-on-one before or after the NITI Aayog meeting. Since the request was turned down, Rao's reasons to skip the meeting grew stronger.
