Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik. (File/News18)
This comes as the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which has been maintaining distance from both BJP and Congress, has avoided tilting either towards the NDA or evolving non-BJP alliance so far.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is set to meet Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on May 9 in Bhubaneswar, and a range of political issues as well as a road ahead to 2024 Lok Sabha polls is on the agenda, reports said.
While reports termed it as a significant move of Opposition unity against the BJP ahead of the next elections, details about the meeting were not immediately available.
This comes as the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which has been maintaining distance from both BJP and Congress, has avoided tilting either towards the NDA or evolving non-BJP alliance so far.
Senior BJD Leader Debi Prasad Mishra said that “Naveen is frontline leader in country. It is a courtesy call and that it should not be politicize”
On the other end, BJP Leader Suresh Pujari said that “Nitish is an opportunist leader. The purpose of meeting will not be fruitful. People will not accept anti-Modi alliance.”
“Naveen is always with BJP. it will not be fruitful and will be limited to a formality, “said Congress MLA Santosh Singh Saluja
“Chief Minister Naveen always played masterstroke in Politics. May be it’s a courtesy call. So it is difficult to speculate on it,” said political expert Rabi Das.
Chef Minister Naveen had invited both Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Nitish to Odisha in December last year to witness the World Cup Hockey 2023.
Notably, the ruling BJD has so far skipped all meetings aimed at forging a third front. While the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD has been supporting the Narendra Modi government at the Centre in almost all issues since 2019, the state units of the two parties are gradually adopting an aggressive stand against each other ahead of the twin polls.
It may be recalled that in April this year, after meeting prominent opposition leaders in Delhi, Nitish Kumar had announced that he would travel across the country to unite opposition parties.
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