TRS chief wants Congress kept out

Rao and Mamata at Nabanna on Monday.

Calcutta: Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao met Mamata Banerjee on Monday and called for a "federal front", stressing the need for a " chamatkar (miracle)" the country has not seen since Independence.

While Rao made it clear the proposed front would be a non-BJP, non-Congress entity, the Bengal chief minister and Trinamul boss remained non-committal on the question of the Congress's inclusion in the arrangement.

"What will happen if the anger against the BJP brings the Congress back? What chamatkar will that bring? A chamatkar is what the country needs, something it has not seen in 71 years," said Rao, the chief of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

Rao was in Calcutta to follow up on a telephonic conversation with Mamata on March 4 when both had agreed on the need for a front ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to jolt the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah election juggernaut.

The meeting came at a time the fragmented Opposition has seen hope after the defeat of the BJP in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha byelections last week by a combine of foes-turned-friends BSP and Samajwadi.

"There are labels of a third or fourth front, of just another front before the elections. Our front will be a federal front. Ours will be a collective, federal leadership," Rao said after the two-hour meeting where he was accompanied by daughter and MP K. Kavitha and senior party leader K. Keshava Rao.

Rao is openly averse to the Congress - the two are in a direct contest in Telangana - but Mamata has been known to do business with the 132-year-old party.

Trinamul sources said Mamata believes in political flexibility, of setting aside differences for a common goal. They said she did not see how the Congress could be left out of such a set-up, especially if it performs well in the Karnataka, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls this year.

Asked to clarify her stand on the Congress, Mamata said: "Whatever Mr. Rao had to say, he has said, I fully agree. Let him speak, he has expressed his views."

In response to a question on whether the proposed front is rejecting Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, the Trinamul chief said: "I have not, do not put words into my mouth."

"Rahul also expressed his views yesterday, he never asked us.... Let everyone express their views, what's the harm? Politics keeps giving you situations where you have to work with others, with different people. Politics for bigger objectives takes time," Mamata added.

The Bengal chief minister is likely to attend an Opposition meeting called by NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Delhi next week. While in the capital, she might meet Rahul as well, the sources said.