KCR talks Third Front with Naveen Patnaik

"There is the dire need for the unification of regional parties of the country," Rao, better known as KCR, said. "There has to be an alternative to the Congress and the BJP.

Saying this was only the beginning of the dialogue and nothing was concrete yet, KCR said: "We need to talk to some more people from across the nation. We have just started. You will see the developments in the future."

Answering a question on the Congress referring to the TRS as the BJP's B-Team, KCR said it had become a joke, to which Naveen agreed with an "exactly".

"Narendra Modi goes to Hyderabad and says we're the B Team of Congress. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi go to Hyderabad and say we're the B-Team of the BJP... We're our own team," KCR said.

Naveen added: "We are our states' team."

KCR is on a tour he's undertaking to form a Third Front ahead of the 2019 elections. The Telangana CM is also scheduled to meet BSP chief Mayawati and West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee.

After his December 11 victory in the Assembly elections, KCR had announced he would shortly float a “non-Congress, non-BJP” national consortium of regional parties.

“We will play a very crucial role in national politics…The country needs a non-Congress, non-BJP government. Today’s results showed that a non-Congress, non-BJP state is possible," he had said.