No anti-BJP or third front': KCR meets Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Thursday met Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in Ranchi and said efforts should be made to take India in a new direction.

KCR said efforts have begun for the unification of like-minded forces and made it clear that it was not an anti-BJP, anti-Congress or a third front, but it was only an idea for a better country for the benefit of all the citizens.

KCR, who is seeking to forge opposition unity against the BJP-led government, met Hemant Soren at his residence in Ranchi.

"We held discussions on a number of issues. We are clear that efforts should be made to take India in a new direction. People are talking about a third front, a fourth front. let me tell you that no front has been formed yet," KCR said.

He said the onus was on every citizen to rectify it and he was meeting several leaders in this regard. "We are very clear. We need to lead this country in a new direction and take a new path. We have triggered a discussion in this direction," he added.

Meanwhile, KCR and his Jharkhand counterpart Mr. Soren handed over cheques of Rs. 10 lakh each to the family members of two jawans martyred in the Galwan Valley clashes at the Chinese border.

KCR had announced support to the families of 19 jawans martyred in Galwan Valley in 2020. To fulfill his promise, KCR came to Jharkhand from the national capital and handed over the cheques to the kin of the two martyred jawans.

The Telangana government had earlier extended support to Colonel Santosh Babu who was martyred in the clashes.

KCR thanked Mr. Soren for his hospitality and also recalled that his father and former Chief Minister Shibu Soren was the first person to extend support for the creation of Telangana when the statehood movement started in 2001.