Akhilesh bats for federal front to oust BJP from power at Centre

Giving a clarion call to oust BJP from power at the Centre in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday batted for the formation of a federal front to contest the upcoming General Elections.

"Formation of a federal front of regional parties is the need of the hour. I will soon meet Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who is striving hard to bring the regional players together on a common platform," said Yadav while talking to media persons here.

He said the BJP's Central and state governments have failed to fulfill their promises and the people are not happy with them. "BJP has deceived the common people. They only made tall promises but have done nothing on the ground for the people. Four and a half years rule of the BJP at the Centre too stands exposed now," added Yadav.

"I congratulate Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao as he is working for the formation of a federal front. I will go and meet him in Hyderabad. Many chief ministers have done good work in their respective states and they must come together," added Yadav, saying that options are open for all to join hands with the SP in the upcoming Lok-Sabha elections next year.

Telangana Chief Minister Rao met his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik on Sunday, and thereafter had a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday in Kolkata, wherein he discussed with them among other issues the formation of a federal front.

During his meeting with Patnaik in Bhubaneswar, Chief Minister Rao, popularly known as KCR, had asserted that there is a dire need for the unification of regional parties to replace the Congress and the BJP at the Centre.

"The country needs a change for which dialogue has begun. We are doing our part but nothing concrete has emerged so far. We have just begun the dialogue. There is a strong need for an alternative to Congress and BJP," Rao had told media persons in Bhubaneswar on Sunday, which he repeated after meeting Chief Minister Banerjee in Kolkata too.

Chief Minister Rao is scheduled to meet Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati in New Delhi on Wednesday. Rao's visit to New Delhi is taking place after 15 days of the announcement of Telangana Assembly poll result in which KCR's TRS won 88 seats out of a total of 119 seats, while the BJP got just one.