The much-anticipated meeting between the chief ministers of Odisha and Bihar took place here on Tuesday, but according to his Odisha colleague Naveen Patnaik, there was no discussion of forming a coalition to oppose the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections the next year.
There was talk before the meeting that Nitish would ask Naveen to participate in the planned opposition protest in Patna to promote unity. Yet, throughout the one and a half hour conversation, both men insisted they had only met as old friends and former coworkers and denied discussing forming an alliance.
They dined together at Naveen Niwas.
According to Naveen, the topic of conversation was land in Puri that would be used to build a guest house for visitors from Bihar. Says Naveen: “We are old friends and colleagues ever since the time we served in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government. There was no discussion of any alliance today.”
He added: “Many tourists from Bihar come to Puri to have a darshan of Lord Jagannath. We would provide 1.5 acres of land in Puri to the Bihar government.”
Nitish said that they both had long-standing relationships.”My relationship with Biju Babu and Naveenji is very old. I used to come here frequently. I have been wanting to meet him for a long time but couldn’t because of Covid.”
When asked if they discussed forming an alliance, Nitish responded: “There were no political discussions today. ‘Purana Rishta’ is available. You shouldn’t be concerned about political discussions because our relationship is so strong that we don’t need to.
Nitish responded when asked if he had invited Naveen to the planned gathering in Patna: “Why are you considering all of these? You’ll all be informed once things happen.
Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party, Mamata Banerjee, and other prominent Leftists have previously met with Nitish to discuss establishing an opposition front.
When Mamata and Naveen met in March, both leaders insisted that there was no political conversation. Political analysts believe that Naveen would keep his distance from both the BJP and Congress since he has no desire to participate in national politics.
Also, Naveen’s unwillingness to publicly embrace the so-called Opposition unity, at least until the 2024 elections are done, may prevent his government from becoming the target of an unwarranted witch hunt by governmental organisations like the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate.
Prasanta Patnaik 
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