Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will fly to Mumbai on Sunday to meet his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray in continuation of his efforts to cobble up a non-BJP front of regional parties to fight against the alleged divisive politics of the Centre.
He will leave by a special flight from Begumpet airport along with some Telangana Rashtra Samithi leaders at 11 a.m and meet Mr. Thackeray over lunch at his `Varsha’ residence in Bandra around 1 p.m. After their meeting, Mr. Rao will also call on the Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar at his residence.
Mr. Rao will be meeting Mr. Thackeray at the latter’s invitation in the background of the TRS president stepping up the ante against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. Mr. Thackeray called up Mr. Rao over phone to extend his support and discuss how best the unity of opposition parties could be forged in a bid to oust the BJP-led government at the Centre.
Incidentally, Mr. Rao, who had been advocating a non-BJP and non-Congress front ever since he floated the idea in 2018, went soft on the Congress in recent time. He even demanded the dismissal of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his nasty remarks against Rahul Gandhi. At the same time, Mr. Rao launched a tirade against Mr. Modi after the Centre expressed its refusal to procure paddy cultivated in Telangana in the ongoing rabi due to excess stocks with the Food Corporation of India. Mr. Rao also did not attend the programme of Mr. Modi in the city to dedicate to the world a statue of saint Ramanujacharya.
Mr. Rao met Tamil Nadu and Kerala Chief Ministers M.K. Stalin and Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan respectively in recent months and the Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly, belonging to Rashtriya Janata Dal, Tejashwi Yadav, in a bid to mobilise the support of parties in the fight against the Centre. The Janata Dal (Secular) president and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee spoke to him over phone to extend their support.
In the past, Mr. Rao invited former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister of Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav here to discuss the strategy. He also met former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in the city. Except Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik whom he met in Bhubaneswar, all the others welcomed his idea.
