Naveen Patnaik met Prime Minister Narendra Modi as we speak.
New Delhi:
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as we speak nixed the opportunity of working with the opposition for the 2024 nationwide election, declaring that his Biju Janata Dal (BJD) social gathering will go it alone and that this has “all the time been the plan”.
The Chief Minister met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi this night and referred to as it a “courtesy name”. Asked whether or not the BJD would preserve its “equidistant” stance, he advised reporters: “That has all the time been the plan.”
The 76-year-old veteran politician has all the time been on the fence on supporting the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) or the Congress. That shouldn’t be altering anytime quickly, he asserted, two days after his assembly with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the prime mover in opposition unity strikes forward of 2024.
Naveen Patnaik’s announcement is a blow to Nitish Kumar’s efforts to arrange head-to-head contests in opposition to the BJP throughout India in 2024 .
Mr Patnaik mentioned he had met PM Modi to debate shifting the worldwide airport from Bhubaneswar to Puri, considered one of Odisha’s largest attracts. “The PM mentioned he’ll assist in any manner doable,” he added.
He mentioned he had no plans to fulfill some other political events on this go to to the capital. “Not on this journey, not so far as I’m involved,” he mentioned, contradicting reviews that steered a flurry of conferences with opposition leaders together with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann, Telangana Chief Minister Okay Chandrasekhara Rao, and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin.
Mr Patnaik had earlier additionally met with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, one of many BJP’s sharpest critics.
There was hypothesis that by assembly opposition politicians, the Odisha Chief Minister needed to ship a message to the BJP, which has been making aggressive strikes within the state he has dominated for 22 years.
Since Mr Patnaik exited the BJP-led NDA in 2008, the BJD has stayed on the fence relating to supporting the NDA or the opposition. At the identical time, the social gathering has skipped opposition conferences and is thought to bail out the central authorities when it wants the numbers.
After assembly with Nitish Kumar on Tuesday, Mr Patnaik had emphatically denied any discussions over an alliance.
“Ours is a identified friendship, and we had been colleagues a few years in the past. No dialogue was held on any alliances as we speak,” he mentioned.
That he agreed to fulfill with Nitish Kumar in the course of opposition strikes was seen as a major shift. Nitish Kumar is planning a gathering of opposition leaders in Delhi on May 18.