KCR, PM Modi meet, discuss alliance after elections

New Delhi: Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, apparently discussed the forthcoming general elections including the post-poll scenario.

While his Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) is not expected to enter a pre-poll alliance with the BJP, the party reportedly has kept its options open for the post-poll scenario.

The second option could fructify considering the fact that during the July 20 no-confidence motion, which was moved by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) against the NDA Government, the TRS had walked out of Lok Sabha just minutes before the voting for the motion was to begin.

Political observers noted that Mr Rao’s meeting with the Prime Minister — his first after the no-confidence motion — holds a lot of significance as the Lok Sabha polls are just months away.

Even as the meeting led to a lot of speculation within political circles, Mr Rao on his part kept the focus of the meeting on various issues related to the state.

The Telangana chief minister submitted a memorandum on various state-related issues to the Prime Minister, some of the important ones being a request to the law ministry through the PMO to establish a separate high court for Andhra Pradesh as currently, both the states have a common high court in Hyderabad.

Mr Rao also requested Mr Modi to instruct the defence ministry to expedite the proposal of transfer of defence lands to Telangana, to enable the state government to take up construction of the new secretariat building.

The chief minister also urged upon the Prime Minister to sanction an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) as well as an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in the state. He also sought setting up of 21 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in as many districts of the state. He requested Mr Modi that an IT investment region should be set up in Telangana.