The Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Monday said a clear picture of the “non-BJP, non-Congress federal front” proposed by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will emerge after the General Election results are out, PTI reported. The ruling party’s Working President KT Rama Rao said the Telangana chief minister has travelled to five or six states and has held preliminary discussions with several political leaders.

The Election Commission on Sunday announced the dates for the 2019 General Elections. The polls will be held in seven phases, starting April 11 and ending May 19. The results will be declared on May 23.

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“We have exchanged ideas, we have exchanged opinions... after May 23, 2019, a clearer picture would emerge on how this [Federal Front] can shape up,” Rao told PTI. “Because our belief is that NDA in this election will possibly not cross between all of them together 160 or 170.”

He claimed that the BJP would manage to secure 140 to 150 seats and its allies might put together another 20 or 30. He claimed that the NDA would be short of the required 272 seats by at least 100.

“Our agenda is to bring together like-minded parties which are [affiliated to] neither NDA nor UPA,” Rao said. “It is not dislodging somebody and hoisting somebody in Delhi. Even if we end up as a group with about 75 to 100 seats, this block might end up controlling or deciding who will get to hoist the national flag or unfurl national flag at Red Fort.”

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The Election Commission on Sunday said the Assembly elections for Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim will be held along with Lok Sabha polling.

Rao said his party was happy that the polls in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will be conducted on a single day on April 11 to avoid duplication of voters. “Last time, the complaint of duplication of votes came up,” he said, according to PTI. “People who voted in Telangana also ended up voting in Andhra Pradesh because that was held in another phase.”