Tag: Patnaik

Nitish meets Patnaik, both claim no talks held on alliance for 2024 poll

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Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar met here for more than an hour on Tuesday but later claimed that there was no discussion on politics or any alliance for the 2024 general election.
Kumar, also the JD(U) supremo, callled on Patnaik, who is the BJD president, at his residence ‘Navin Niwas’ here amid speculation that the two non-BJP and non-Congress leaders will discuss the proposed partnership among the non-BJP parties ahead of the 2024 general election.
The speculation on an emerging alliance at the national level ahead of the poll had its roots in Nitish Kumar’s earlier meetings with AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party leader Akilesh Yadav and others. Kumar had also made it clear that he was in the process of uniting the non-BJP leaders.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is now likely to call on Maharashtra stalwarts Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray later this week, sources in the JD(U) said in Patna.
The Bihar chief minister also had his lunch with Patnaik at his home.
However, both the leaders after the hour-long meeting said that being old friends they talked of matters other than politics fuelling curiosity.
The meeting between the two took place ahead of Patnaik’s proposed three-day trip to Delhi from Wednesday, while the JD(U) in a tweet later claimed that Nitish Kumar has become the leader of the united-Opposition against the BJP-led NDA.
“Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has become the leader of opposition unity, went to Odisha and met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik uniting opposition parties without personal ambition,” the JD(U) tweeted in Hindi.

Patnaik, however, refuted speculations about any political understanding between the two leaders. “No discussion was held on any alliance today. I am delighted that Nitish ji came to Bhubaneswar. We are old friends and colleagues ever since we served in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cabinet,” he told reporters.
He said the Odisha will provide 1.5 acres to Bihar government free of cost in Puri for building facilities for tourists coming for darshan of Lord Jagannath.
He shared some photographs from the meeting and tweeted, “Glad to meet #Bihar Chief Minister Shri @NitishKumar in #Bhubaneswar. #Odisha shares a special bond with Bihar and the people of the neighbouring state. Hope he had a pleasant and fruitful stay in Odisha”.
Kumar said, “Our relation with his (Naveen) father Biju Babu (Patnaik) and Naveen ji is a very old one. We could not meet due to the pandemic. No political discussions were held (during the meeting). We have good relations and there is no need to discuss any politics.”
Earlier in the day, Kumar was welcomed at the Biju Patnaik International Airport by state minister Ashok Chandra Panda and BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra.
Both Kumar and Patnaik lead their respective parties and it was expected that they would discuss politics ahead of the 2024 polls and work towards unity among regional parties.
Kumar is opposed to BJP, with which his party broke its alliance in August 2022, and has claimed that the JD(U) maintains an equal distance the saffron party and Congress.
Banerjee had met Patnaik in March in Bhubaneswar.
Odisha BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said the meeting between Patnaik and Kumar will not have any impact on the party.
“Naveen Patnaik always does whatever is in his interest. If he thinks that joining the third front will help him, he might do so and if he thinks it won’t, he will not join it,” he said.
BJD MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik said, “Kumar wants a reformative and alternative front in the country. He may discuss the matter with Naveen Patnaik. But Patnaik has already made it cleared that BJD will maintain equidistance from both Congress and the BJP.”
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 9, 2023
Nitish Kumar to travel to Odisha, meet Naveen Patnaik on May 9

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Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will meet his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar on May 9, amid talks of regional parties coming together ahead of the 2024 general elections, officials said.
Kumar will meet Patnaik at Naveen Niwas’ here around 12 pm, they said.
The Bihar CM and JD(U) leader had recently announced that he would travel across the country to unite opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next year.

He has already met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, and Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja.
Patnaik, the BJD supremo, had also met Banerjee in March.
In December last year, Patnaik had invited both Banerjee and Kumar to witness the hockey world cup in Odisha.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 6, 2023
With Gamang joining the party, can BRS dent Odisha’s Fortress Patnaik?

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Bhubaneswar: With several Odisha leaders, including former chief minister Giridhar Gamang, ex-MP Jayram Pangi and farmers’ leader Akshay Kumar, joining KCR’s Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), which is eyeing to expand its party base, political atmosphere has charged up in the state.
However, whether the entry of BRS into Odisha will change its political landscape remains to be seen as the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is an unbeatable political force in the state since past 23 years.
Defeating the Congress, the BJD formed the government in the state in alliance with the BJP in 2000. However, in 2009, the BJD ditched the BJP and formed a government on its own. In the past decade, the regional party has defeated two big national parties the Congress and the BJP.
While the Congress is becoming weak in one after another election, the BJP has also failed to perform as a strong opponent to the regional party in past panchayat, urban and Assembly elections.
In past also, many political parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Left parties tried to enter Odisha politics, but in vain.
Only the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) managed to win four Assembly seats in 2009 when it entered into an alliance with the BJD.
Besides, many of the political leaders, who have recently joined the BRS, were not very much involved in active politics. And, the non-political leaders have not tried their luck in Odisha politics till now.
New inductees in BRS from Odisha claimed that many leaders from different parties in the state are contacting to join them, whereas the ruling BJD and BJP have said that KCR’s party will not have any impact.

Commenting on this, senior BJD leader and Puri MP Pinaki Misra said, “The BRS has taken the leaders from BJP. As per my opinion, the vote bank of Giridhar Gamang will be diverted to BRS from BJP. It will not have any impact on the BJD’s vote bank.”
“Nobody can match the USP of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The BSP may be able to gain a very few thousands of votes in its peripheral areas and that too in two or three districts,” said the BJD leader.
Similarly, BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said, “In the past also, Odisha had witnessed several such parties. But all disappeared at a later stage. So, here the fight is between BJP and BJD.”
“The BJP is fighting on development agenda while the BJD is fighting with its face Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik,” the BJP leader said.
According to local political analyst Rabi Das, the BRS may be able to put some impact on southern Odisha, especially Telugu-speaking border constituencies.
“Many schemes of KCR in Telangana are better than those in Odisha. Odisha’s Kalia scheme has come from their state. Telangana is providing more money as old age pension then Odisha,” Das said.
“The leaders who were searching for a party which is financially sound, for them, BRS is the best option. So, such leaders will definitely jump into the BRS,” he added.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 29, 2023