Telangana: Scribes’ presence makes BJP leaders jittery

At a press conference addressed by union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the BJP office in Hyderabad, State party president Bandi Sanjay Kumar asked the reporters from Telangana Today and Namasthe Telangana dailies and T News channel's to leave the hall saying that the BJP has boycotted certain media houses.

Hyderabad: The Telangana unit of the BJP seemed to be jittery over the presence of media persons from Telangana Today and Namasthe Telangana dailies and T News channel, fearing that the journalists from these three organisations would ask irksome questions and expose the injustice done by the Centre to the State.

At a press conference addressed by union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the BJP office here on Saturday, State party president Bandi Sanjay Kumar asked the reporters from these organisations to leave the hall saying that the BJP has boycotted certain media houses.

“We have respect towards the media and journalists and we don’t have any problem with them. But certain media organisations that are helping a few parties and criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leaders,” he said in Nirmala’s presence.

Waving a sheet of paper, Sanjay claimed that he had a list of questions that would be posed to the union Minister. The press conference, which was to begin at 4 pm, got delayed by nearly 30 minutes and started only after the journalists left the hall.

Later, interacting with media persons, Nirmala justified the remarks made against Kamareddy Collector Jitesh V Patil at a fair price shop in Birkur over the absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photo. To a query, she maintained that she was not here to judge anyone’s conduct and that she had every right to ask questions. “When the Collector was not answering, I gave him time too,” she said.

“Our leader’s name should be included when the Central government’s share is included in any scheme being implemented in the State,” she said. To another question, she said the Central government introduced a system to spend every paisa of the taxpayers’ money in a transparent manner and the entire process was digitised.

Nirmala disagreed with another reporter, who drew her attention to allegations that the Centre was discriminating against Telangana in the sanction of funds and allocation of crucial projects.