Nitish Kumar Meets Odisha's Naveen Patnaik, Deny Any Talks On Third Front Alliance

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday in Bhubaneswar and said no discussion was held on any alliances.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who held the meeting at 'Naveen Niwas,’ said their friendship is a known one and that they were colleagues many years ago. ( Image Source :ANI )

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday in Bhubaneswar as part of his efforts to bring all non-NDA parties together to defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Both the leaders, who held the meeting at 'Naveen Niwas' said, “Ours is a known friendship and we were colleagues many years ago. No discussion was held on any alliances today.” After the meeting, they also said that a land in Puri is being given free of cost to the Bihar government to build a Bihar Bhawan in Bhubaneswar.

Ours is a known friendship and we were colleagues many years ago. No discussion was held on any alliances today. The land in Puri is being given free of cost to the Bihar govt to build a Bihar Bhawan there: Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in Bhubaneswar pic.twitter.com/nPZ3NPAE81

— ANI (@ANI) May 9, 2023

The meeting between Kumar and Patnaik assumes political significance as the latter had held a discussion with West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in March.

Speculations about Kumar’s meeting with Patnaik, who heads the Biju Janata Dal, were doing the rounds for quite some time.

The Bihar CM broke ties with the BJP last year and vowed to defeat it in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. He has been touring many places and meeting political leaders of various hues as part of his “opposition unity drive,” reported news agency PTI.

In the recent past, Nitish Kumar has held talks with TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.

Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav had also met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi in the presence of Rahul Gandhi in April. They pledged to take all opposition parties together for a united front against the BJP.

He has previously met with former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, NCP President Sharad Pawar, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, among others.
Patnaik, a former BJP ally, is one of the country's longest-serving Chief Ministers.

When Kumar met Banerjee, she requested him to organise a gathering in Bihar of opposition leaders from around the nation.

Kumar has suggested that such a gathering may take place following the Karnataka assembly elections. The campaign has concluded in the state, which goes to the polls on Wednesday, while the counting will take place on Saturday.