PM Modi had come to Telangana in February to inaugurate Saint Ramanujacharya's Statue of Equality.
The Prime Minister's Office today rubbished the claim that it had instructed Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to stay away from the Prime Minister's programmes during his visit to the state in November last year and again in February.
Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister at the PM's Office, tweeted, "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".
"Infact, 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," read his second tweet.
In an interview to NDTV yesterday, Mr Rao's son and state minister KT Rama Rao had said in both cases, the Prime Minister's Office had sent a clear message that the Chief Minister "should not come".
PM Modi had come to Telangana in February to inaugurate Saint Ramanujacharya's Statue of Equality. The Chief Minister's absence at the airport to receive him, and later, at the function, was a breach of protocol that unleashed a storm of criticism.
At the time, the Telangana Chief Minister's Office had conveyed to the Prime Minister's Office that the Chief Minister would stay away from the PM's events as he was running fever.
But the absence, coming amid a dramatic escalation in Mr Rao's attacks on the Centre and PM Modi, had set off a huge controversy.
The Chief Minister was missing at PM Modi's programmes in November last year as well when the Prime Minister came to visit Bharat Biotech's Covid vaccine facility.