Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao not welcoming Narendra Modi on his arrival in Hyderabad is an insult not to the individual but to the institution of prime minister, the BJP said on Saturday. Addressing a press conference at the BJP national executive meeting here, Union minister Smriti Irani said it is a usual practice and part of the protocol that a chief minister welcomes the prime minister on arrival in his or her state. By not welcoming Modi, “KCR has insulted not the individual but the institution,” she said.

“The prime minister has given a clarion call for cooperative federalism and in the last eight years met all leaders and referred to them with respect as is validated by ‘maryada’. That KCR has disrupted what has been a constitutionally federal protocol reflects on him,” she said. Rao is commonly called KCR.

On a question about KCR’s son and state minister KT Rama Rao’s swipe at the BJP meet, Irani said that “political clownage” could be the process of his TRS. “Politics may be a circus for them and the political clownage could be the process of his (KTR) party. But for the workers of BJP, it is for social emancipation and nation building. And for our workers hosting and participating in national executive is matter of national pride,” she said.

She also hit back at KTR’s statement that what Telangana does today India does tomorrow, and said Telangana is doing dynastic politics. “What Telangana doing today is dynastic politics and India will never do it tomorrow. This model India will not accept,” she said. Poking fun at the delegates who descended here to attend the BJP meet, KT Rama Rao has asked them to enjoy world famous Hyderabadi Dum Biryani and Irani tea during their stay in the city.