Out to unite Opposition, Nitish Kumar meets ‘old friend’ Naveen Patnaik: ‘Alliance not discussed’

With the meeting keenly tracked, given Kumar’s recent engagements with other Opposition leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Patnaik tried to downplay the political buzz by saying they only discussed the allocation of 1.5 acres of land in Puri to the Bihar government for a guest house.

The Bihar CM also reiterated that their relationship was not new and dates back to the days of Naveen’s father Biju Patnaik. “I used to come here frequently. But due to the pandemic, we could not meet for some time. You don’t have to worry about any political discussion. Our bonding is so strong that there was no need for that. Please don’t compare our bonding with that of others,” said Nitish.

When asked if he has invited the BJD president to a proposed Opposition meeting in Patna, Kumar said he would think about it when the time came.

According to BJD insiders, the chief minister’s office, while accepting the proposal for Tuesday’s meeting, clarified that Patnaik was not very keen to discuss any issue related to a political alliance.

“The BJD will never be part of any alliance in which the Congress is a part since the party has made its base out of anti-Congress votes in Odisha. Kumar started his Opposition outreach exercise after meeting the Congress leadership. That’s reason enough for us not to join the alliance. As such, Naveen babu has no national ambitions. He is more concerned about winning a sixth term in Odisha,” said a BJD leader.

A JD (U) leader said, “Naveen Patnaik very well knew the purpose of Nitish Kumar’s visit. This meeting should be seen as the opening of a communication channel and the melting of ice.”

Another JD (U) leader said both leaders talked about their camaraderie and reminisced about their time working together. “Both Nitish Kumar and Navin Patnaik were MPs at the same time. Even though Naveen is known for his equidistant position, the warmth shown by him towards Nitish is a welcome sign.”

The Bihar CM has already met Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury. He is scheduled to meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday. He is also expected to meet Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao and Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.  The decision to get Nitish to reach out to these parties, most of whom do not share a good rapport with the Congress, was taken at a meeting in Delhi between Nitish, Bihar Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav, and the Congress leadership.

BJD’s neutral stance

Political observers believe Naveen does not want to upset Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with whom he shares a good rapport, by siding with any Opposition group. The BJD rode to power in Odisha in March 2000 by forging an alliance with the BJP but severed ties ahead of the 2009 general elections. Since then, the regional party has been maintaining an equal distance from the BJP and the Congress. Its strategy is to maintain good relationships with any party that is in power at the Centre.

Despite not being a partner in the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, the BJD, with 12 MPs in the Lok Sabha and eight in the Rajya Sabha, has extended support to the Modi dispensation while it passed key pieces of legislation as well as in all presidential polls since 2014.

Though JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh, alias Lalan Singh, and Bihar minister Sanjay Kumar Jha accompanied Nitish to Bhubaneswar, Naveen and Nitish held a one-to-one meeting. IAS officer and Naveen’s secretary V K Pandian was seen in a photograph having lunch with the two CMs. Both Singh and Jha joined for a photo session at the end of the meeting of the two CMs, along with the BJD’s Debi Prasad Mishra and Ashok Panda.