* KCR to skip the conventional reception and sendoff for the VVIP
During his visit to the sprawling campus of Indian School of Business (ISB) here, which is expected to last for an hour, the Prime Minister will be addressing around 900 students, including about 300 from its Mohali campus who have flown in to the city for the event.
As part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of ISB, coinciding with which will be the graduation ceremony of the Post Graduate Programme Class of 2022, Mr.Modi will plant a sapling, unveil a commemorative plaque and release the ISB MyStamp and Special Cover. He will also award medals to the academic scholars of excellence.
It will be the first joint graduation ceremony of the Hyderabad and Mohali campuses, ISB Dean Madan Pillutla told mediapersons recently.
The gathering will include Board members, faculty and employees of the premier B-School that was inaugurated by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2001. ISB had former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former presidents Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee as the chief guest for its 5th, 10th and 15th year anniversary celebrations respectively.
Mr. Modi will find Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao missing at the Begumpet airport on Thursday when he arrives by an IAF plane around 1.30 PM. But the Telangana BJP will be according him a warm welcome with a felicitation programme at a makeshift stage in the airport tarmac.
This will be the second time Mr. Rao will skip the conventional reception and sendoff for the VVIP as he was also not present when Mr. Modi came to the city on February 5 to dedicate the over-200-ft statue of Bhakti saint Ramanujacharya on February 5. It was said he was running slight temperature on that day but this time he had scheduled a visit to Bengaluru to call on JD (S) president and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and former Karnataka Chief Minister Kumaraswamy.
Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav has reportedly been nominated as Minister in Waiting for receiving and seeing off Mr. Modi during his around two-hour visit to the city. No order, however, has been issued till late Wednesday evening..
Mr. Rao is expected to hold discussions about the emerging political situation in the country and the latest political developments during his meeting wit Mr. Deve Gowda. An advance party of security personnel has already reached Bengaluru and supervising the arrangements for Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao’s visit there while flexis and banners have also been put up in important locations welcoming the Telangana Chief Minister to Bengaluru.
Senior BJP leader and national OBC president K. Laxman was not sure if the Prime Minister will be addressing the party leaders and cadre who are expected to converge in large numbers at the airport. “The cadre will be thrilled if it happens, but as of now it is not on the agenda. The ISB has also confirmed that while an invitation was extended to the Chief Minister, the latter has expressed his inability because of his visit to Bengaluru, Mr. Laxman said.
