Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was among the first to call K Chandrashekhar Rao and extend support to his ‘third front’ idea
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is likely to fly down to Kolkata on Monday to meet his counterpart Mamata Banerjee to discuss the possibility of forming a “non-Congress, non-BJP” political front.
“It is not yet confirmed but the Chief Minister is likely to go to Kolkata on Monday, a day after the Telugu New Year, to meet Mamata Banerjee. The CM is keen on forming a national front of political parties. He will emphasise that he is proposing an alternative to the Congress and BJP so that there is a change in quality of governance at the Centre,” said a top official in the Chief Minister’s Office.
On March 3, while floating the idea of a “third front”, Rao, also president of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), had said that he was in talks with other “like-minded” parties, including the Left, to bring about “qualitative changes” in governance.
“In the last 70 years, the political system, whether ruled by Congress or BJP, has failed.miserably to bring a qualitative change in the lives of the people.We are talking of tackling corruption and ensuring social justice. Every day, there are reports of Dalits being killed. The BJP is in power in some of the states where they ( Dalits) are getting killed,’’ Rao said, adding that only time would decide if the “change” he was talking about would emerge as a third front or a new political party.
Trinamool Congress chief Banerjee was among the first to call Rao and extend support to his “third front” idea. As more calls of support followed, among them Ajit Jogi and former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Rao announced on March 5 that he was ready to take on the mantle of leading the proposed political front.
KCR is likely to fly down to Kolkata Monday afternoon and drive down to meet Banerjee.