Bhubaneswar: May 9: Putting all speculations aside, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik made it clear that there was no discussion on the anti-BJP alliance between him and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
There was speculation that the Bihar chief minister would discuss the formation of an anti-BJP alliance with Naveen Patnaik prior to the 2024 elections. However, as the chief minister of Odisha stated, no such discussion took place.
“There was no discussion held on any alliance today. I am delighted that Nitish ji is in Bhubaneswar. We are old friends and colleagues ever since the time we served in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cabinet. We had discussions for one and half acres land in Puri. The land will be given to Bihar government free of cost for the construction of Bihar Bhawan for the tourists coming to Puri to have darshan of Lord Jagannath”, Chief Minister said.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said, “I have a long-standing relationship with Naveen Ji and Biju Babu. Covid prevented us from meeting. There were no political discussions’.
It is important to note that the Bihar Chief Minister is attempting to unite the opposition figures under one banner in order to forge a broad opposition coalition to oppose the BJP. His goal is to unite all non-NDA parties. He has already met leaders of several political parties including West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to form an opposition front.
Recently, Nitish Kumar had met Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress, and Mallikarjun Kharge, the party’s president, in Delhi.
Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee had also met CM Naveen Patnaik in the month of March this year.
However, Naveen Patnaik and his BJD party have so far kept a similar distance from the BJP and the Congress.
