BHUBANESWAR: Ahead of his meeting with West Bengal counterpart and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday said a discussion on a Third Front for the 2024 election is not on the agenda.
“Nothing has been discussed on the Third Front as yet,” said Naveen when asked whether there is anything political about his proposed meeting with Mamata. The BJD had on Monday downplayed the meeting between Naveen and Mamata and maintained nothing political was on the cards.
The BJD’s reaction is on the expected lines as the regional outfit has never been a part of any group against BJP or Congress. The two political leaders had also met at Naveen Nivas in April 2017 and stated that no politics was discussed.
The West Bengal CM who arrived here on Tuesday is scheduled to meet Naveen on March 23. After reaching Bhubaneswar, Banerjee, too, did not divulge whether politics will be discussed during her meeting with Naveen.“I will visit Jagannath Temple to offer my prayers to the deities. Odisha chief minister is a senior leader and I will also meet him,” she said.
Minister of state for home Tusharkanti Behera received the West Bengal CM and her team at the Bhubaneswar airport. Mamata had recently met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav at Kolkata. Though not announcing any plans to forge an anti-BJP front for 2024 election, the two leaders had stated that they will maintain equal distance between BJP and Congress.