KCR meets Mamata after Patnaik; steps up efforts for non-BJP, non-Cong alliance

Meeting a second regional satrap in two days, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao Monday held parleys with his West Bengal counterpart and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and said efforts to forge a non-BJP and non-Congress alliance will continue.

Rao, the chief of Telangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS), also said the planned alliance will very soon come out with a "concrete plan" for the next year's Lok Sabha elections.

The meeting at the state secretariat came a day after Rao met his Odisha counterpart and BJD president Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar.

Fresh from a resounding victory in his home state Telangana, Rao is meeting prominent leaders in a bid to provide an alternative to the Congress and the BJP. Rao is also expected to meet BSP supremo Mayawati and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, both former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, among others in the next couple of days.

Describing his meeting with Banerjee as a "very pleasant one", Rao said "discussions (on a Federal Front) will continue".

"Discussions with didi is always there. When two political leaders meet, they definitely discuss matters of mutual interest and matters of national interest.

"We had a very pleasant discussion. We will continue our discussion. There is a dialogue which I had started yesterday. This is a unification of forces across the nation. I met Odisha's Chief Minister yesterday and today I met didi," Rao told reporters.

Banerjee, who was beside Rao at the brief media interaction, did not offer any comments about the meeting.

"Our dialogue will continue. Very shortly we will come out with a concrete plan," Rao said recalling the congratulatory call he got from the Trinamool Congress(TMC) supremo after he was elected as the chief minister for the second time.

"I came to visit the Kalighat (famous Kali temple in Kolkata) and I thought of meeting didi and seek her blessings," he added.

Asked about his mission to evolve a non-BJP and non-Congress alliance, Rao said," I will continue with my efforts. It is the mission of KCR, I will continue in my mission."
As the opposition parties work out their strategies for the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP said the Congress and its President Rahul Gandhi are not acceptable as a pivot to many parties outside the party-led NDA and dubbed the "so-called" opposition unity against the saffron party as a "bogus claim."
"The BJP will highlight in campaigns that these ragtag coalitions are a threat to stability and development and are driven by personal agendas."