KCR will meet Mamata Banerjee today over new front

Hyderabad: As part of his move to form a non-BJP and non Congress alternative, Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao is all set to meet his West Bengal counterpart and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Monday.

Mr Rao, president of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), will be accompanied by TRS parliamentary party leader and party’s secretary-general K. Keshava Rao during his visit, party sources said on Sunday.

After Mr Rao recently proposed formation of a non-Congress and non-BJP front at the national level, ahead of the next years Lok Sabha polls, Banerjee had spoken to him over phone, extending her support.

“The discussions will focus on creating some kind of regional formation for setting up a political front with like-minded parties and for creating an agenda for the country’s growth,” they said.

Nizamabad MP K. Kavitha, Rao’s daughter, is also likely to take part in the discussions.

Sources in the Telangana chief minister’s office had said Saturday night that Mr Rao would meet and hold discussions with Mamata Banerjee on March 19 in the backdrop of him calling for a qualitative change in politics.

Mr Rao would meet Ms Banerjee, (who had recently extended her support over his remarks) in Kolkata at around 4 PM, they said.

However, the Telangana BJP unit today said the proposed meeting clearly highlighted his ‘desperate attempts’ to make himself relevant in national politics.

Mooting the alternative, Mr Rao had called for a “qualitative change” in politics and had also announced that he was ready to take on the mantle of leading a political front.