![[File] Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the 'Statue of Equality' in Hyderabad | Twitter/PIB](https://img.theweek.in/content/dam/week/news/india/images/2022/2/5/statue-of-equality.jpg "[File] Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the 'Statue of Equality' in Hyderabad | Twitter/PIB")
The Centre on Thursday rubbished the allegations made by Telangana minister K.T. Rama Rao that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had instructed Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to stay away from the programmes attended by Narendra Modi in Hyderabad in February. Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister at the PM's Office, said it was the CM's office which informed the PMO that the chief minister was not feeling well.
"According to some media reports, the son of Telangana CM has claimed that PMO sent a message that Shri KCR should not be a part of PM's programs when he visited Hyderabad. This is patently untrue. No such message was sent by the PMO,” Singh tweeted.
"In fact, the CM of Telangana was expected at the events on 5th February when PM visited Hyderabad. It was the CM's office which informed the PMO that the CM was not feeling well and hence would not be attending," he said in another tweet.
In an interview to a TV channel on Wednesday, Rama Rao, son of KCR, had claimed that the PMO had sent a clear message that the chief minister should not attend Modi's programmes in the state capital.
Modi was in Hyderabad in February to dedicate to the nation the 'Statue of Equality' commemorating the 11th century saint Sri Ramanujacharya and also to kickstart the 50th anniversary celebrations of ICRISAT.
KCR's absence in the programmes had sparked a war of words between the BJP and the TRS with the former accusing him of insulting the prime minister.
“Mr KCR, Is this your culture? You claim to have read 80,000 books. Is it what you have learnt from them?” Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar had asked.
Of late, the BJP and the TRS have constantly been engaged in verbal duels over a range of issues.
