For Third Front push, Telangana Chief Minister KRC to meet DMK chief MK Stalin in Chennai today

Telangana Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtriya Samithi chief K Chandrasekhar Rao or KCR as he is popularly called and DMK president MK Stalin will meet at Stalin’s residence in Chennai on Monday. KCR left for Tamil Nadu on Sunday afternoon. He would first visit Tiruchirappalli, official sources said.

The DMK, which is an ally of the UPA, had earlier attempted to play down the meeting, terming it as a 'courtesy'. The Congress has in the past accused KCR of being the B-team of the BJP, while Stalin was the first leader to endorse Congress President Rahul Gandhi for Prime Minister.

The DMK had earlier called of 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.

Last year, Rao met Stalin in Chennai and discussed issues related to state autonomy, finances and the political situation. Rao called on Stalin after meeting then DMK president M Karunanidhi, who passed away a few months later.

Stalin said KCR was in talks with other political parties and he would himself talk about various issues with other like-minded parties in Tamil Nadu and at different levels within the DMK.

The TRS supremo had stepped up efforts to forge a non-Congress, non-BJP federal front of regional parties and on May 6 met his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram.

He has also planned to meet Karnataka CM AND JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy and may follow it up with Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. YSRCP leader Jagan Mohan Reddy is already part of KCR’s Federal Front and has said that the two Telugu states will bargain as a bloc.