HD Deve Gowda tells K Chandrasekhar Rao to forge Front after 2019 elections

Hyderabad: Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (S) chief H.D. Deve Gowda on Sunday said he was confident that the coalition of regional parties will come to power at the Centre in the next general election as the national parties Congress and BJP have no chance of securing a majority on their own.

He predicted early parliamentary polls and said the Karnataka episode will be repeated as the Congress or the BJP will be forced to back a coalition of regional parties to form the government at the Centre.

Mr Gowda who was in the city to attend the wedding of the grandson of Rajya Sabha member and senior Congressman T. Subbarami Reddy, met Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao at Pragathi Bhavan on Sunday and held discussions with him and IT minister K.T. Rama Rao.

TRS party sources said the discussions centred on Mr Rao's attempts to float a federal front at national level comprising regional parties.

Mr Gowda, it is learnt, suggested that he wait for the outcome of the general election to form any kind of front as it would not be possible to bring all regional parties together at this stage as they face different issues in their respective states.

Pre-poll fronts at this juncture would not be possible. It would be better to wait for the outcome of the general election. Post-poll alliances of regional parties can be formed to capture power at the Centre. Neither the Congress nor the BJP will get a majority on their own to form a government. They will be forced to back a coalition of regional parties like it happened in Karnataka recently, Mr Gowda said.

The Chief Minister and Mr Rama Rao appeared to be convinced with this suggestion, sources said.