No possibility of any third front, says Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik after meeting PM Modi
After meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik said there is no possibility of any third front. When asked if his party will go alone in the forthcoming polls, Patnaik said this has always been the principle of his party.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday ruled out at the possibility of joining any alliance for the 2024 national election, declaring that his party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) will go solo in next year's Lok Sabha polls as it has always done. Naveen Patnaik met Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday evening and called it a "courtesy call".
"There is no possibility of a third front as far as I am concerned. There are no meetings lined up with other political leaders. I met Nitish Kumar and it was a courtesy call," Naveen Patnaik said.
Asked if the BJD will fight the upcoming elections alone, he said, "That has always been the case".
On his meeting with Kumar on Tuesday, he said, "It was a courtesy call, he paid a visit. It went off well."
Reiterating BJD’s position of remaining equidistant from both the Congress and the BJP, Odisha CM said he met the prime minister to raise issues related to his state.
"I have met PM Modi and discussed issues related to Odisha. I have discussed about International Airport as Bhuvneshwar is getting a lot of traffic and our airport needs expansion," he told after meeting PM Modi.
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In the meeting that lasted around 20-25 minutes, Patnaik raised issues related to infrastructure development in the state, including the under-construction Sri Jagannath Airport, incomplete national highways and opening of bank branches in Gram Panchayat which do not have the facility.
Naveen Patnaik's announcement of his party BJD going solo in the 2024 general elections comes as a blow to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar who is touring the country in a bid to unite the opposition parties to oust the ruling BJP.
On May 9, Nitish and Patnaik, long-time colleagues and cabinet ministers in the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, met in Bhubaneswar and held an hour-long meeting. However, both the CMs claimed that no discussion on any political alliance between the JD(U) and BJD for the Lok Sabha elections next year was held in the meeting.
Patnaik has been at the helm in Odisha since 2000 and his BJD is among some regional parties that have maintained a neutral stand on the issues involving clashes between the ruling BJP and Opposition. At times, it has supported the BJP in Parliament as well.
Patnaik, 76, who enjoys immense popularity among Odisha voters, is being approached by prominent Opposition leaders for an alliance to take on the Narendra Modi government. Before Nitish, West Bengal CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had also called on Naveen at his residence here on March 23. However, after his meeting with Mamata, Naveen had ruled out speculation of any future political alliance.
(With PTI inputs)
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