KCR to stay off Delhi meet of CMs, CJs

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao will not attend the joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on April 30.

Official sources said that Rao has decided to stay away from the two-day conference and has deputed law minister A. Indrakaran Reddy to attend the event, which will be chaired by the Chief Justice of India Justice N.V. Ramana.

Rao had also not attended the Prime Minister’s video conference with chief ministers on Wednesday to review the Covid situation as he was busy with the TRS plenary.

Rao has been staying away from meetings and video conferences convened by Modi for the last one year as TRS and BJP are engaged in a bitter political battle since the Huzurabad Assembly by-election and over the paddy procurement issue.

The ensuing conference is being held after a gap of six years. The last one was held on April 24, 2016. The conference is a platform to discuss challenges faced by the judiciary. Speedy delivery of justice, reduction in pendency of litigations and rising vacancies in judiciary are likely to be on the agenda of the conference.

Earlier in January, Modi had convened two video conferences with CMs, one to review Covid situation and other to discuss ‘aspirational districts’. Rao stayed away from both meetings.

Rao did not receive Modi when the latter arrived in Hyderabad on February 5 to launch the Statue of Equality in Chinna Jeeyar Swamy ashram citing ‘illness’.