Bengaluru, Telangana Chief Minister Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Thursday called on former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda at his residence here and discussed "topics of national importance".

The meeting was long a key topic of discussion in political corridors in connection with bids to form a 'third front' opposing both the BJP and the Congress.

The Telangana Chief Minister, who also heads the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, avoided meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Hyderabad on Thursday. On an earlier occasion too, he did not meet the PM during his visit to Hyderabad citing health reasons.

KCR, as the leader is popularly known, was welcomed by Deve Gowdaa's son and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and grandson, politician and actor Nikhil Kumaraswamy at their residence in Bengaluru.

On the meeting, Deve Gowda, in a social media post, said: "We exchanged views on various topics of national importance. It was a candid and cordial meeting."

The meeting has assumed importance as KCR had met his New Delhi and Punjab counterparts, Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann, respectively, of the Aam Aadmi Party recently, as well as Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

The talk of formation of a third front came to the front then.

Meanwhile, as senior BJP spokesperson in Karnataka slammed Chandrashekar Rao for avoiding meeting PM Modi who has arrived in Hyderabad. "Not able to face PM Modi, Telangana CM has escaped to Karnataka. He is taking blessings from the father of family politics here".