India, Oct. 9 -- Telangana chief minister and Congress leader Revanth Reddy on Friday backed SpaceX founder Elon Musk amid the Starlink row, saying that India could not "afford to appease crony distractions."

Musk had, in a post on X, alleged that Starlink was being "blocked" in India by "certain oligarchs". Responding to his remarks, Reddy highlighted UPI, which he said was a "shining example of big Indian innovation", and urged the country to "welcome innovative solutions."

India had rejected the SpaceX CEO's remarks, saying any suggestions that the country's regulatory framework or its application was discriminatory were "baseless and misconceived".

In a post on X, Reddy said, "Congress governments had always stood for digitisation ...