New Delhi/IBNS: Former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has claimed the regional parties in the country will form the next central government leaving no other choice for the national coalitions- NDA or INDIA- to join them, media reports said.

Rao said the regional parties won't be supporting the national coalitions- be it NDA or INDIA- but the other way round.

Speaking to NDTV, Rao, who heads the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), said, "I will tell you a surprising thing which you may not believe. This time, something new is going to happen in the country. All the regional parties are very strong now.

"They will emerge as a force. It's not the regional parties supporting NDA or INDIA. It's nothing like that. Either of them will have to support the regional parties' group. It will be a reverse thing. You will see it."

Contrary to Rao's claims, several regional parties, which are undoubtedly powerful in their own states, have extended their support to the INDIA bloc, which has been formed to counter the BJP-led NDA.

The AAP is fighting the elections in Delhi with Congress, RJD is in the INDIA alliance in Bihar, and Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP) are fighting together.

Though TMC is going solo in West Bengal, the party's supremo, Mamata Banerjee has announced she will extend her support to INDIA after the elections are over.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rao's party had won 9 out of 17 seats but the BRS was routed by Congress last year in the assembly elections.

Slamming the Congress, Rao said, "The only promise they have delivered is free bus (tickets) for the woman. Even that has become a big joke. Women are fighting in the buses and auto drivers are (protesting) on the roads. That's the reason people are very angry.

"The farming community, which got a lot of confidence during my regime, is also very angry. And I think the reflection will be seen in the Lok Sabha elections."