Rao plans to meet Patnaik, Mamata, Mayawati & Akhilesh next week

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), who announced plans to work towards forging a non-Congress, non-BJP federal front of regional parties, will meet his Odisha and West Bengal counterparts and also the chiefs of the BSP and the SP next week.

Rao will meet Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar on December 23 and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata the next day, a release from his office said.

During his visit to Delhi from December 25, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief would meet BSP supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.

The move is seen as part of Rao's renewed efforts to reach out to regional parties to float a consortium of regional outfits, sans the Congress and the BJP.

The TRS has swept back to power in the state, winning 88 seats in the December 7 Assembly elections.