Mumbai:Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) met his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on Sunday. KCR, who is on a one-day visit to the western state, said that “good result” of their meeting will soon be seen. “I invite Uddhav Ji to come to Telangana,” KCR added.
KCR is also going to meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar at his residence in the evening before jetting back to Hyderabad.
The Telangana chief minister’s visit to Maharashtra comes as part of his campaign to intensify anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opposition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
KCR has been at loggerheads with the saffron party, which started after his post Budget 2022 remarks wherein he slammed both the BJP and the Congress, saying India needs a new movement – breaking away from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the grand old party. He also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that he dresses according to the poll-bound states.
Earlier this month when Modi visited Hyderabad, KCR’s absence from the event and also at the airport to receive the former, added fuel to the controversy. However, KCR’s office released a statement later, citing his fever and stressing that he is not binding to receive the PM.
Last week, Thackeray had a conversation with KCR in which he “extended support” to the Telangana CM in his efforts to unite regional parties to lead a third front against the BJP-led central government, and invited him to Mumbai. “This is in line with what Uddhav ji has been saying in the overreach of the Centre. States have to come together to defend the federal structure of the country,” a senior Shiv Sena functionary had said.Notably, earlier in the day, when the Telangana CM landed in the financial capital, “welcome KCR” posters were seen around Mumbai.
KCR’s tussle with the BJP, and efforts to join the regional parties, follows that of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo, who registered a landslide victory in the eastern state and shattered the saffron camp’s dream to form a government in West Bengal, has been urging cooperation among opposition parties to dethrone the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha elections. She had come to Mumbai last year to meet Pawar. KCR has already received support for the third front from Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK chief MK Stalin, and is expected to reach out to Mamata as well.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
