PM Modi's praise for Yogi Adityanath in Telangana amid attack on KCR

In Telangana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday praised Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath in his speech as he stepped up the attack on the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government and chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, popularly known as KCR. “I congratulate the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Yogi Adityanath ji, from this land of Telangana. Someone had told him that he should not go to a place, but Yogi ji said that he believed in science and he left. Today he has become the Chief Minister again.”

“We have to protect Telangana from people who encourage superstition,” the prime minister said.

PM Modi was targeting the Telangana chief minister, who has been accused of being superstitious in the past. Earlier, former MP K Vishweshwar Reddy had said that KCR ignored the religious sentiments of the people over his superstition. There had been buzz about KCR moving to a new home in 2016 over ‘Vastu’ concerns.

Meanwhile, PM Modi’s UP reference was the popular myth linked to the chief ministers’ visits to Noida. Yogi Adityanath broke the jinx, the BJP had said, despite being told multiple times that leaders avoided going to the city over the fear of losing power.

During his speech in Hyderabad, PM Modi also slammed the KCR government over dynastic politics or ‘pariwarwad’ as he said that the BJP would come to power in Telangana. The party aimed to convert the southern state into a technological hub, the prime minister said.

While PM Modi is in Telangana, KCR is in Bengaluru. He met former PM HD Deve Gowda on Thursday afternoon.

This is the second time in months that KCR has not met PM Modi while he is in the state. Earlier, in February, KCR had missed the ‘Statue of Equality’ event, citing health reasons.