Federal front gathers steam as KCR meets Stalin at his residence

Chennai, May 13: In his bid to gather forces for a federal front, Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao met DMK president MK Stalin at his residence in Chennai.

The TRS supremo had stepped up efforts to forge a non-Congress, non-BJP federal front of regional parties and recently met his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram.

The meeting between the two leaders comes days after the DMK called off the meet citing Stalin's campaign commitments for the bye-elections to four constituencies in Tamil Nadu that are set to take place on May 19. The DMK, which is an ally of the UPA, had earlier attempted to play down the meeting, terming it as a 'courtesy'.

"It is a courtesy call," was all that Stalin said in a statement about the more than an hour-long discussion with KCR, as Rao is known.

A DMK member, however, said that the party has made it clear to the Telangana CM that it was in firm in its alliance with the Congress and steadfastly opposed to the BJP, said reports.

"Why didn't Stalin meet the media after the meeting with KCR? Why was he shying away?" asked Tamilisai Soundarrajan, president of BJP's Tamil Nadu unit.

KCR has been trying to a forge a non-BJP, non-Congress Federal Front. He is convinced that both these national parties will not be able to form a government on their own and this will lead to an opportunity for regional parties and leaders like Stalin, HD Kumaraswamy, Mamata Banerjee and him to combine.