Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a "Hindu-Muslim disease", Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao said today, addressing a public meeting to campaign for the December 7 state election.
Mr Rao, aka KCR, said this while sharing with his audience that his promise of 12 per cent reservation in jobs and education for Muslims in Telangana remained unmet because of the centre's delay.
KCR said he had written "30 letters to PM Modi but received no response. The prime minister is "obsessed with the debate on Hindus and Muslims", said the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief.
The caretaker chief minister was seen to get a little personal as he remarked that the PM "doesn't have the heart to treat everyone equally and lacks compassion".
Union Minister JP Nadda of the BJP expressed his condemnation of KCR's comments and accused him of playing appeasement politics for votes.
"KCR's comments are unconstitutional and condemnable. TRS should understand that the people of Telangana will not accept such communal politics," Mr Nadda said.
"To appease Muslims in the name of quota is like destroying the country's constitutional framework," he added.
Hyderabad lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi of the AIMIM party backed KCR in a tweet: "KCR is right about Modi's Hindu-Muslim disease. There is only one cure for this disease - the constitution."
KCR's acrimonious remarks for PM Modi come months after their meeting set off speculation of a secret pact for elections.
The TRS chief is among the leaders who have been pitching for a non-Congress-non-BJP front for the 2019 polls.
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