Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has remained non-committal to joining non-Bharatiya Janata Party Opposition front ahead of 2024 elections.
“No discussion was held about alliance today”, said Mr. Patnaik after meeting with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has been eliciting support leaders of non-BJP leaders to come to a common platform.
“I am delighted that Nitishji is in Bhubaneswar. We are old friends and colleague ever since we both served in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cabinet together. We had discussion regarding land in Puri. About 1.5 acres of land will be given to the Bihar Government free of cost for many tourists and pilgrims who come to Puri to visit the temple of Lord Jagannath,” said Odisha CM.
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Mr. Kumar responded in similar line. “the relationship with Mr Patnaik has been continuing from his father’s days. I used to frequently come to Odisha. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, I could not come. I wanted to meet him and now met him.”
“A large number of tourists come to Odisha. Previously, we had discussion about land. Don’t talk about political discussion as we have very good intrapersonal relationship. The meeting should not be seen from the prism with outcome from meetings with relationship,” said veteran Janata Dal (United) leader.
Political observers here said the statements of two regional leaders were face-saving ones. The JD (U) in a subsequent issued a tweet saying, “CM Nitish Kumar who is taking a lead in uniting Opposition parties met Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and he has been uniting Opposition parties without harbouring any personal aspirations.”
In March this year when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met Odisha CM here, the meeting was then termed nothing more than a courtesy call. However, both leaders had affirmed their commitments to a robust federal structure in the country. The West Bengal Government was sanctioned two acres of land at Puri for construction of guest house for devotees.
Mr. Patnaik had never expressed national ambition of going beyond the boundary of Odisha and continued to consolidate party’s strength as a regional player having ‘cordial’ relationship with party at Centre.
Meanwhile, reactions on meeting between the Odisha and Bihar Chief Minister came pouring in from Bihar. Senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishore Prasad said, “Looking at his past records, Nitish Kumar ji has lost his political credibility. It is very tough for anyone to trust him because he has changed many alliance partners to remain on the post of CM.”
“The kind of politics he does, he has become irrelevant in today’s scenario. Let him meet any leaders to unite the opposition but ultimately nothing will happen. He is just roaming and nobody is giving any value to him. The stature of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is so big that no leader stands a chance in front of him,” said Mr. Prasad.
Union Minister R.K. Singh who was in Patna said that Mr. Kumar’s effort to unite the opposition will have no impact in the 2024 Lok Sabha election as there was no vacancy for the post of PM.
BJP legislature party leader Vijay Kumar Singh hits out at Nitish Kumar saying that no one will accept the ‘leadership of ideology less and principle less person.’
“Nitish Kumar is following the path of his big brother Lalu Prasad to destroy the State. He is not able to lead and control his own State and talking about the opposition’s unity at national level, what could be worse than this. Nobody will accept the leadership of a person who has no ideology and principles in political life, “said Mr Singh.
JD (U) MLC Neeraj Kumar said, “Nitishji has never said that he wants to become the Prime Minister of the country. The BJP leaders always create nuisance out of nothing. First, they should listen what Nitish ji says and then react accordingly. Our leader is just making an effort to unite the opposition parties so that the BJP could be defeated in 2024 Lok Sabha election.”
