HYDERABAD: TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao will not attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with presidents of all political parties in New Delhi on December 5. The meeting was called to solicit suggestions from all parties in order to discuss and finalise strategies for the G-20 nations summit, which India will host in September 2023.
According to TRS sources, the party has received an invitation from the Centre on Wednesday inviting the CM to attend the meeting. However, due to the ongoing political squabble in the state between the BJP and the TRS, sources say the CM will skip the PM's meeting. However, it is unclear whether he will send someone from the TRS to the meeting on his behalf.
As India assumes the presidency for the G20 Summit, New Delhi is expected to host over 200 meetings across the country, including Hyderabad, beginning in December this year. India will host Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates as guests. In light of this, the Prime Minister has called a preparatory meeting for the G-20 summit, to which all major political parties' presidents have been invited. The preparatory meetings are significant because India will preside over such a prominent gathering for the first time since its independence, bringing 20 of the world's largest economies under one overarching framework. However, the CM is unlikely to attend the PM’s G-20 preparatory meet in New Delhi.
Rao last met the Prime Minister in New Delhi on September 2, 2020, before the Huzurabad Assembly byelection. Following the Huzurabad bypoll in November 2020, in which the BJP defeated the TRS, the political rivalry between the TRS and the BJP has escalated, with the CM declaring war on the BJP and PM Modi and attempting to bring regional parties together for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections against the BJP-led NDA. Rao has avoided meeting with the PM since then. Rao did not greet Modi at the airport even when he arrived in Hyderabad four times between February 2022 and his recent visit to Ramagundam to inaugurate Ramagundam Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd. (RFCL). On all of these occasions, the CM has delegated minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav to meet and greet the PM at the airport.
