Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav meets Telangana CM Chandrasekhar Rao, backs move to unite regional parties to take on BJP

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s efforts to unite regional parties across the country got a big boost on Wednesday with Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav fully backing the former’s attempts to stitch in an alternative at the national level. However, both the leaders gave different signals on the goal of the proposed front.  Akhilesh dropped hints that the Front is aimed at defeating the BJP and that regional parties only can checkmate the BJP government at the Centre. 

Rao, on the other hand, said the Front is not being formed for 2019 polls.  He further said that no political party is untouchable to them in forming the Front whose aim is to bring in a qualitative change in the country.  “BJP has promised a long of list of things for the country and various States including UP, Bihar and Telangana. But, it has not honoured any of its promises. I am backing the efforts of Rao to form an alternative Front at the national level to give a new direction to the country,” the SP leader said. 

Akhilesh Yadav, who came to Hyderabad from Lucknow on Wednesday afternoon, had a three-hour meeting with Rao at Pragathi Bhavan here on the proposed Front. Later, the two leaders jointly addressed the media. While saying that he is fully backing the efforts of Rao to unite regional parties across the country to bring in a qualitative change at the national level, the SP leader parried a question on whether Congress would align with the Front.