Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrasekhar Rao will renew efforts to forge a new front opposed to the Bhartiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance after Assembly elections in the state, PTI reported, quoting his son and party leader KT Rama Rao as saying on Monday.

In March, Chandrasekhar Rao had hinted at forming a Third Front ahead of the 2019 General Elections. Political leaders such as Mamata Banerjee, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi have already backed his plan. Rao had also met former Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi before his death.

KT Rama Rao said the ruling party was not aiming to garner power by forging opportunistic alliances. “Our efforts to build a non-NDA, non-UPA coalition will continue because it’s in the larger interest of the country,” he added. The Congress and the BJP have failed the country, the TRS leader said.

Rama Rao said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s efforts to bring together Opposition parties to defeat the ruling BJP during the Lok Sabha elections were attempts at covering up his government’s failures. “Desperate times, they say, call for desperate measures,” he added.

Rama Rao accused Naidu of “trying to shift the blame of his failure of governance” to the Centre. “He wants to give an impression that he is fighting against [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi,” he added.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader claimed that Naidu wanted to portray Modi as a villain in this region. K Chandrasekhar Rao had said before that Modi and his party are a “non-entity” in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. “It shows his [Naidu’s] level of frustration,” Rama Rao added.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Opposition called by Naidu to form an alliance against the BJP has reportedly been postponed, according to News18. The meeting was scheduled to be held on on November 22. A new date is likely to be announced after Naidu’s meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday evening.