Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao meets PM Narendra Modi, discusses household survey issue

NEW DELHI: Amid reports of friction between the Centre and the Telangana Government, a delegation led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed the controversial household survey conducted in the state among other issues.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government had conducted a massive household survey across the state last month to ascertain comprehensive information on citizens, an exercise which attracted criticism from certain quarters.

The survey had created apprehension among people hailing from Seemandhra region who reside in Telangana that it was meant to identify Seemandhra natives.

"We have told the Prime Minister that we have done the survey and got the best of it. We informed him (about) the benefits of the survey," TRS Rajya Sabha MP K Keshava Rao said.

Keshava Rao asserted that the survey was conducted only to know the true facts on the ground against the backdrop of alleged excess ration cards.

"There are 80 lakh households, but 1.2 crore ration cards. We wanted to know what is reason behind it... So, we thought that the best thing would be to get the real picture. We had no other intention," he said.

The Chief Minister was accompanied by his party MPs. Keshava Rao also said that the delegation has urged the PM to consider a second airport for Hyderabad in the northern part of the city.

"Already, we have an airport in the southern part of Hyderabad. We have requested for another airport in the northern part of the city."

Telangana special representative to Delhi, Venugopalachary said the meeting lasted for 30 minutes, during which about 20 issues ranging from power to setting up of educational institutions were discussed. P