Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hit out at Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), claiming that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi was making an effort to strike a friendship with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

“KCR realised the increasing power of BJP much earlier. For a long time, he was making an effort to strike a friendship with the BJP. Once, when he came to Delhi, KCR met me and made the same request. But BJP can never work against the wishes of the people of Telangana,” the prime minister said at a rally in Mahabubabad.

“Ever since BJP turned down KCR, BRS has been baffled. The party doesn’t lose any opportunity to abuse me. BRS knows that Modi will never let it anywhere near BJP. This is Modi’s guarantee,” Modi added.

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It is not the first time when the prime minister has made a similar claim about KCR trying to forge an alliance with the saffron party. Last month, Modi at a rally in Nizamabad had said that KCR visited him in Delhi and expressed his wish to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The meeting, according to the prime minister, took place in wake of the BJP winning 48 seats in the Hyderabad municipal polls.

“After the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections, KCR came to meet me in Delhi and said that he wanted to join NDA. He also asked me to extend support to him. I told him (KCR) that due to his deeds Modi cannot be associated with him,” Modi had said.

At the rally today, PM Modi attacked both Congress and KCR, calling them ‘equal sinners’. “”Both Congress and KCR are equal sinners in destroying Telangana. So, the people of Telangana can’t let in another disease after ousting one – I have seen this everywhere in the state. The trust of Telangana is in the BJP. You have determined that the next CM of Telangana will be from BJP. The BJP has promised you that the first BJP CM in Telangana will be from the BC community (Backward Class),” he added.

Telangana goes to polls in a single phase election on November 30. The counting of votes will take place on December 3.