THE SIZE OF DEVOTION
KCR is conscious that chances of a third term in a row are slim unless he finds new ways to rally support, even more so with the BJP’s rising influence in the state
An artificial plateau has come up on a hillock at Yadagirigutta, some 70 km northeast of Hyderabad, and what was once a modest cave shrine has been transformed into a grand temple. Labourers are braving the torrid summer heat to build an ornate 330 feet long gold-coloured passage, which will be the corridor for worshippers to access the sanctum sanctorum of Narasimha Swamy—the part-lion, part-man avatar of Vishnu that Hindus revere as the incarnation that came to Earth to destroy evil and restore dharma.
If Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) is to be believed, he is putting in place a “21st century world-class Hindu spiritual destination”. And it’s all being done at state expense. In March 2015, he launched the Rs 1,800 crore project spread over 1,885 acres, after shortening the name of the
