Hyderabad: With the ruling NDA on course to securing a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha polls, TRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's plans to stitch a "non-Congress, non-BJP" front of regional parties is in tatters.
Anticipating a hung parliament, the TRS was gearing itself to play a "king-maker" role along with parties not aligned with the Congress and the BJP.
But the trends indicate BJP will get majority on is own and touch 300 seats, pouring cold water on Rao's plans.
Rao had met several regional leaders, including his West Bengal and Odisha counterparts Mamata Banerjee and Naveen Patnaik respectively, DMK president M K Stalin and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, as part of his outreach to opposition parties.
However, he did not appear to have received unequivocal support from others, except Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy of YSRCP as his efforts to form the federal front failed to make headway and remained a non-starter, according to Rao's critics.
His decision to advance the assembly polls eight months before its expiry last year was hailed as a "master-stroke" as the TRS returned to power with a rich haul of 88 seats in the 119-member House.
It was then perceived that national issues might have overshadowed those of the state if simultaneous elections were held for the Lok Sabha and the state assembly.
In the Lok Sabha poll campaign, TRS told the electorate a win for it would enable Telangana get copious funds and development projects from the Centre.
Rao's focus on national politics led to speculation he would pass over the reins of the government to his son K T Rama Rao but the latter was appointed working president of TRS soon after TRS' victory in the assembly polls.
Chandrasekhar Rao's glorious moment in his about four-decade-long political career came when the UPA government led by Dr Manmohan Singh granted separate statehood in 2014, a long cherished dream, catapulting Rao to be the mascot of Telangana pride.
Though the Congress and BJP also claim credit for passage of the Telangana bill, it was Rao's TRS that reaped the rich political harvest.