Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao who is on a foreign tour today said that Hyderabad had always been the second capital of India.
KTR was reacting to senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai's comment during the India Today 2018 Conclave at the Park Hyatt Hotel where the latter had said that he was surprised to see the rapid strides in development that the city was taking each time he visited, and asked the CM if he would like it if Hyderabad were to be named the second capital (the CM incidentally said that he would have no problem with that).
In response, KTR said that though it wasn't given the official status, Hyderabad was indeed the second capital of India, especially since it was the only city outside of Delhi to have a Rashtrapati Nilayam (Presidential Palace), and to which the President of India made a yearly winter sojourn.
The minister later took to Twitter to make the same statement.