Chandrasekhar in Odisha, calls for unification of regional parties

Bhubaneswar: TRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday said there was a dire need for unification of regional parties to provide an alternative to the Congress and the BJP ahead of the 2019 elections.

Rao, who has been trying to form a non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) non-Congress alternative, called on Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here.

"I can say certainly that there is a dire need for unification of regional parties in the country," the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief told reporters after meeting Patnaik.

"We strongly believe that there has to be an alternative to Congress and BJP," he added.

Both the chief ministers had a detailed discussion on national issues including the need for better friendship among the regional parties.

Earlier, Telangana Chief Minister arrived in Visakhapatnam on Sunday and took blessings from a seer before leaving for Bhubaneswar where he was scheduled to meet his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik.

Rao is on a four-day tour to meet various leaders to garner support for his proposed non-BJP and non-Congress front ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

His party, the TRS, has hired a special aircraft for a period of one month for Rao's trips to various places.