PM's poll speech 'below the level of Sarpanch': Telangana CM

Hyderabad: In a scathing attack on the Prime Minister, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao accused him of lying on central allocation to the state and said his campaign speech was "below the level of sarpanch".

Rao also said he does not have a desire to be the Prime Minister. Taking exception to Modi's criticism against him that he consulted astrologers, the TRS president asked "if this is what the Premier should talk about".

Alleging that the Prime Minister did not speak the truth about allocation of funds to the state, Rao, also referred as KCR by many, demanded that Modi apologise to the people. "What does Narendra Modiji speak? KCR sees horoscope...

Is this what is to be spoken, for the Prime Minister to speak? Should persons running the politics of the country speak like this? In this country, the Prime Minister speaks going below the level of a sarpanch," he said. Rao, who was speaking at an election rally at Warangal, was alluding to Modi's comments on him at a rally in Telangana last week that Rao consulted astrologers which affected governance.

"Narendra Modi ji, you are speaking absolute lies today.

(You) are bragging that you are giving Rs 35,000 crore (to Telangana). You did not give Rs 35,000 crore. My brothers and sisters should know. Delhi is not taking care of us. We are taking care of Delhi," he said.

Telangana gives about Rs one lakh crore to the Centre annually in the form of customs duty, income tax, centre's share in GST and others, he said.