No possibility of third front as far as I am concerned: Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik has ruled out any possibility of a third front saying that the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) will fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on its own.

The development comes two days after Patnaik had met his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar.

Patnaik, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday afternoon in the national Capital reiterated his party’s position of remaining equidistant both from the Congress as well as the BJP.

Also Read: After Modi meet, Naveen Patnaik says no to joining ‘third front’ for 2024 poll

“BJD will fight the 2024 elections on its own. That has been always been the policy of BJD. My discussions were mainly related to Odisha’s demands and the international airport coming up in Puri. As the traffic in Bhubaneswar international airport is rising, we talked about the proposed Puri airport,” he said.

On Tuesday, Patnaik had met Bihar CM Kumar but denied talking about politics.

“Ours is a known friendship, and we were colleagues many years ago. No discussion was held on any alliances,” Patnaik had said after the meeting.

The Bihar CM said his relation with Patnaik and his father Biju Patnaik is very old.

“Due to the COVID pandemic, we could not meet. No political discussions were held. We have good relations and there is no need to discuss any politics,” he said.