‘No third front as far as I am concerned’: Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik says BJD will go solo in General election 2024 as he meets PM Modi

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 11

In the first blow to the opposition’s ongoing attempts at forging a pan India anti-BJP alliance, Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik on Thursday said his party would go it alone in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“There is no question of a third front as far as I am concerned. Not now,” Patnaik said speaking to reporters after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the capital to discuss development projects related to the state.

Patnaik, who has been serving as Odisha chief minister since 2000, making him the longest serving CM in the state, said his party would not ally with the opposition for the upcoming General elections.

Patnaik’s remarks came two days after he met Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is on a mission to unite non-BJP parties for 2024 General elections.

Mulling a united fight against BJP, Nitish met NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on Thursday.

He had yesterday met Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren to advance an anti-BJP alliance having earlier met Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and others.

Importantly, former JDU president and one time Nitish loyalist RCP Singh, who joined the BJP in the capital on Thursday, made light of Nitish Kumar’s overtures.

“Nitish Kumar has no interest in Bihar’s development and has to do something to bide his time…Toh ghoom rahe hain (So he is touring). I want to ask him who is the leader of the so-called ramshackle alliance? Nitish Kumar says he is himself not a leader. So who is? How can there be unity without any leader?” Singh asked.

On a question that he himself used to say Nitish was PM (prime minister) material, RCP Singh said, “Yes but times have changed because Nitish Kumar ditched the BJP which made him CM in 2020 even when JDU had the lower number of seats. Nitish Kumar betrayed the mandate people of Bihar gave till 2025. So he is PM and that means palti maar.”