UPA sounds TRS but party leader says it's NDA again

The Congress-led UPA has reached out to TRS President and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to get him on board in government formation exercise, in the event of a hung Parliament. Sources in the regional party said the UPA approached Rao through Maharashtra strongman and NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

While Rao's response was not known immediately, a senior TRS leader said his party now holds the view that the NDA would form the government. "Our expectation is it (NDA) may not be close to what exit polls predicted. It may fall short by a few seats but it will form the government. The mood of the people is towards the NDA. We should accept that," he said.

Another TRS functionary said even if the BJP-led NDA does not get a majority, he does not expect the Amit Shah-led party to seek the support of his party, indicating that TRS would have no role in the next government. "They (BJP) will try to lure some other parties rather than TRS (in the event of needing numbers)", he told PTI.

On the TRS approach, if NDA returns to power, the functionary said it would continue to be "as usual, supporting and opposing it on the case-to-case basis"..