Setback for KCR? Akhilesh postpones meeting, Mayawati yet to confirm

Plans of Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader K Chandrashekar Rao to meet BSP supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav here in a bid to cobble up a non-BJP, non-Congress alliance ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election seem to have hit a roadblock.

While Akhilesh Yadav said in Lucknow Wednesday that he would meet Rao after January 6 in Hyderabad, Mayawati has not yet given time to the Telangana Chief Minister.

Yadav said he appreciates Rao's efforts to build an alliance, but he will not be able to meet him in Delhi.

Earlier, a meeting between the two was planned at the residence of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav here.

Though Mayawati is in Delhi since Sunday afternoon, she has not yet confirmed the time for the proposed meeting.

Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) are key regional players in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh. The SP has maintained that a non-BJP alliance will not be be able to stand without their inclusion.

The TRS chief reached Delhi on Monday night and and would be here till Thursday.

Pitching for a Federal Front of regional parties, Rao had on Monday met Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Addressing the media after the meeting, he had said that they discussed a "matter of mutual interest" and "national politics. "Our dialogue will continue and shortly, we will come with a concrete plan," he said. Banerjee did not speak.

On Sunday, he had met met Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to discuss an alternative front.

The BJP has dubbed him as the 'B team' of the Congress, while Rahul Gandhi and TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu have accused Rao of being the 'B team' of BJP.

Rao met Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday evening. This was Rao's first meeting with Modi after winning the assembly elections to return to power in Telangana.

He discussed a variety of issues with the prime minister, including release of funds for 10 backward districts, setting up of a separate high court for Telangana, Kendriya Vidyalayas in new district and an IIIT in Karimnagar district, according to state officials.