Contrary to the expectations, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao stayed away from meeting his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu in New Delhi on Sunday.
Both the Telugu chief ministers were in Delhi to attend the governing council meeting of Niti Aayog held under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Since both are neighbours, everybody expected that they would exchange pleasantries and shake hands, if not hold a separate meeting.
But nothing of that sort had happened. While Naidu got the opportunity to speak first, he put forth his view strongly and accused the Centre of not coming to the rescue of the state.
On the other hand, the Telangana chief minister also put forth certain demands, but was more or less polite in his speech. At one stage, he even praised Modi government for extending all cooperation to the new state of Telangana.
During the break, too, Naidu spent his time with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Karnataka CM H D Kumara Swamy and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
Though KCR, too, enjoys the rapport with these CMs, he did not join them and stayed away. In fact, on Saturday night, when the four CMs tried to go in a procession to Lieutenant Governor’s residence to extend solidarity with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Telangana CM did not join them.
It clearly showed that KCR was trying to avoid meeting Naidu. Ever since the cash-for-vote case has been reopened, both the CMs have not been enjoying good relations.
Though KCR said he would also talk to Naidu on the federal front proposal, it did not materialise. But Naidu grabbed the initiative and held talks with other regional party leaders.
