All Eyes On Naveen Patnaik-Mamata Banerjee Meeting, Over Non-BJP, Non-Congress Front

Despite its unambiguity, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s clarification about meeting her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik later today has done little to dissuade those reading between the lines.

That’s because the tete-a-tete follows one with Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav last week, in which they announced a new political front aimed squarely at cutting out the Congress and challenging the BJP in next year’s national elections.

Ms Banerjee is also scheduled to meet former Karnataka Chief Minister and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Friday in Kolkata, before a possible one-on-one with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the national capital later this month.

And so, attempts to describe the meeting between Mamata Banerjee and Naveen Patnaik as a “courtesy meeting” have not convinced political observers keeping a hawkish eye on the state that will hold elections next year as well.

Sources add Mamata Banerjee is keen to have Naveen Patnaik on board in what regional parties are describing as a “Governance Platform” to shed the baggage that comes with the “Third Front” formation.

The former tag is said to have polled better with leaders from opposition regional parties, some of whom have reservations about making political ambitions for the next year’s elections their binding factor.

It may just be semantics, but the nomenclature “Third Front” automatically lists regional parties behind the Congress, in a contest with the BJP, and that is something that they are keen to avoid as a matter of perception, political observers say.

While maintaining that regional parties are better prepared to take on the BJP in 2024, Mamata Banerjee described her meeting with Naveen Patnaik as a courtesy call as she could not honour an invitation during the Hockey World Cup earlier this year.

“This is not a matter of United Opposition or anything. It’s a courtesy meet and personal meet because there was a programme in Odisha and Naveen ji sent some ministers to invite me. I told him whenever I go to Odisha, I will meet him. Kumaraswamy ji also wanted to meet me, and he is coming to meet me at my residence on Friday,” she said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose government has had similar friction with the BJP as Mamata Banerjee, said they are considering meeting in April as a planned meeting of opposition Chief Ministers of regional parties could not materialise due to assembly sessions in various states.

“We eight Chief Ministers, and we will go to each other’s states. We will learn from each other in areas where we have done well. This is a governance platform, it’s not a political platform,” Mr Kejriwal said.