Making a fresh bid to bring on a common platform non-Congress and non-BJP parties after the general elections, Telangana Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao left for Kerala Capital Thiruvananthapuram to call on his counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday afternoon.
Mr. Rao, who has been championing the cause of a non-Congress, non-BJP coalition called Federal Front is expected to discuss the contemporary politics in view of the general elections. He is scheduled to meet Mr. Vijayan at 6 pm on Monday.
The Telangana Chief Minister, who left by a special flight for the Kerala capital, will also visit the Rameswaram and Srirangam temples in Tamil Nadu before returning to Hyderabad later in the night.
A press release from the Chief Minister's office earlier in the day said: “As part of Honourable Chief Minister K.Chandrashekhar Rao scheduled visit to Kerala and Tamil Nadu states, he will meet DMK President M.K Stalin on 13th May 2019 at the latter’s residence in Chennai.”
“Both the leaders are likely to discuss current political scenario in the context of ongoing parliament elections. Meanwhile, Karnataka CM Sri. Kumaraswamy on knowing about CM KCR visit to Kerala and Tamil Nadu had a telephonic talk with CM KCR,” the release added.
Front of regional parties
Mr. Rao has been espousing the cause of forging a federal front of regional parties since March last year claiming that the BJP would not get full majority. At several election rallies, he had addressed ahead of the Assembly elections in December last, Mr. Rao had said that regional parties would play a major role in national politics soon, and that there were ample signs of BJP not winning more than 150 seats and Congress struggling to secure even a 100.
In fact, in March last year, the TRS chief flew down to Kolkata to meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. After emerging from the meeting he had said: “We are trying to bring in a real federal front for the country. This will be a like-minded group of political leaders. Today is just the beginning."
Later, he had met the Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar, Mr. Stalin at his residence in Chennai. He separately flew down to Bengaluru to call on former Prime Minister H.D.Deve Gowda in April last year. He also met Mr. Kumaraswamy.
The ruling TRS is aiming at winning 16 out of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana leaving the other seat to its friendly party AIMIM. Party sources maintained that Mr. Rao is keen on playing the role of a 'kingmaker' on the premise that the regional parties would call the shots after the results.
