Upendra Kushwaha takes on Nitish on his home turf
Once a blue-eyed boy of the Bihar chief minister, he is so “harsh and blunt” about him at a public meeting in Nalanda that it’s difficult to imagine that not too long ago he was his mentor.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met his Odisha counterpart Naveen Pattanaik at Naveen Niwas in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. However, both the leaders categorically said “no discussions were held on alliance today”.
Nitish Kumar, as per his schedule, visited Bhubaneshwar to meet his old friend and a colleague, Naveen Pattanaik, at noon. He was accompanied by JD-U president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh and state Water Resources Development Minister Sanjay K Jha.
According to sources, both of them held a talk for nearly one-and-a-half hours followed by lunch at the Odisha CM’s residence. After the meeting, Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik held a joint press conference in which both of them recalled their old association from Vajpayee days.
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Talking to reporters, the Odisha CM announced that his government has decided to provide 1.5 acres of land free of cost in the holy city Jagannath Puri for the construction of a Bihar bhavan for tourists as well as pilgrims coming for “darshan” of Lord Jagannath.
Thousands of tourists as well as devotees from Bihar visit Odisha particularly Puri each year. With the construction of the Bihar bhavan in Puri, the visiting tourists will have no accommodation problem. A lot of Bihari tourists today face problems finding suitable accommodation during the peak season.
Recalling his old relationship with the Pattanaik family, CM Nitish said: “I used to visit Odisha frequently since the days of his late father Bijuji. I had not been regular since the outbreak of covid.”
However he said, “Don’t compare my association with him to any other leader. We both served in Vajapyee’s cabinet.”
It is known among the political circles that the Odisha CM maintains equidistance from BJP and Congress. So, he avoided talking anything regarding the discussion related to the Opposition unity. However, Pattanaik has a cordial relationship with all the major political leaders cutting across the party lines.
Kumar is scheduled to meet his counterpart in Jharkhand Hemant Soren in Ranchi on Wednesday. He is likely to fly to Mumbai on Thursday to meet Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray and NCP president Sharad Pawar. Both these meetings are considered important politically.
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