Hyderabad: Political parties have criticised Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for his remark that he would “bury” the media 10 km under the earth” if it “insults” his state even as journalists protesting against the blocking of two TV news channels were taken into preventive custody.
While opposition BJP condemned the “undemocratic” language used by Rao at a function in Warangal, Congress said the chief minister had “no clue about governance” and reminded him of the duty to safeguard media freedom.
However, Rao’s daughter and Telangana Rashtra Samithi MP K Kavita said the chief minister’s comments about the media should not be seen in isolation as the TV channels which have been blocked were “demeaning the legislative system of Telangana.”
Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy said that in a democracy you should know how to tolerate criticism. Nobody can take law and order into their hands. KCR threatening the media for attacking his policies were deplorable, Reddy added. The chief minister, who once described himself as 'a Hitler to those who do wrong things', said his government would not tolerate media channels insulting people and the elected representatives of the state.
KCR was referring to TV channels ABN Andhra Jyothi and TV 9, which were blocked by the Association of Telangana Multiple System Operators in mid-June for allegedly airing programmes "denigrating the Telangana dialect, sentiment and feelings" of the people of the state. Since then the representatives of the two channels have been protesting against the decision. The Telangana CM said he won't bow down to such pressure.
