“Very soon, the formation of a national party and formulation of its policies will take place,” an official release said.

Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. Photo: Twitter/@TelanganaCMO

New Delhi: Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, popularly known as KCR, on Sunday announced that he will launch a national party soon and the work to formulate its policies is going on.

“There has been a consensus on the alternative national agenda after prolonged discussions with intellectuals, economists and experts from various fields like we did before the start of Telangana movement,” an official release from KCR’s office said.

“Very soon, the formation of a national party and formulation of its policies will take place,” the release added.

For months, KCR has dropped hints that he is eager to play a larger role in national politics. At the TRS plenary in April this year, KCR said that there was a need for a national alternative to the BJP and the Congress. His party colleagues were encouraging him to form a national party, he had said.

There is speculation that the new party will be called Bharatiya Rashtra Samiti (BRS) – modelled after KCR’s current party, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti.

After the party is formed, Rao is expected to tour various states to form party committees and start political activities. He will continue to meet leaders of non-BJP parties – he met two leaders of the Janata Dal fraternity, Nitish Kumar and H.D. Kumaraswamy recently. Party sources suggest that the new party will strike pre-poll alliances with non-BJP parties in various states. The party may make its debut in the assembly elections in Gujarat, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, due later this year.

Before announcing the formation of a new party, KCR met former Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in Hyderabad – a follow-up to their earlier meeting in Bengaluru in May. An official release said they discussed Telangana’s development, the role of regional parties in national politics, the part that KCR should play in national politics in the present situation and other national political issues.

The JD(S) leader also met TRS working president and minister K.T. Rama Rao.

“During the meeting, we discussed issues related to Karnataka & Telangana States besides key national issues. I am overwhelmed by the hospitality & camaraderie extended by KTR,” Kumaraswamy tweeted.

Rao, who recently met his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar in Patna, called for a “BJP-mukt Bharat”, (BJP-free India) blaming the saffron party’s government at the Centre for issues like inflation, unemployment and high prices of essential commodities. In his recent public meetings, he has spoken about the “Telangana model” playing a vibrant role in national politics.