Revealed: Why Naveen Patnaik isn't committing to 'opposition unity'

New Delhi: Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik is seemingly playing the waiting game even as alliance seekers from various opposition parties try to woo him ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

With just about a year left for the much-awaited 2024 Lok Sabha polls, regional leaders have been making a beeline towards the formation of an opposition alliance to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

And Patnaik, who has been at the helm of Odisha for over two decades, seems to be one of the most sought-after political leaders for these alliance seekers.

Over the past few weeks, two top opposition leaders, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar have called on Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik with an eye on seeking his support for the alliance against the saffron front.

However, Patnaik is seemingly keeping all his cards close to his chest ahead of the 2024 general elections and not giving any promises to these political leaders.

A move that is being seen as an attempt by Patnaik to clearly distance BJD from the opposition ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, sources said.

It is understood that the Odisha Chief Minister may take a decision on any possibility of an alliance only in a post-poll scenario, after assessing the numbers game after the 2024 general elections, sources said.

Though political circles are abuzz with speculation that discussions regarding an imminent third-front alliance took place during these meetings.

Patnaik has quelled any rumours and clarified that these talks concentrated on the allocation of land for the construction of Bihar and Bengal Bhawan for the tourists coming from these respective states to Puri for the darshan of Lord Jagannath.

Ever since these meetings, and the less-than-favourable outcome, there have been murmurs from a few opposition quarters charging that Patnaik has a tacit understanding with the saffron party.

However, it may have to do more with BJD's own survival in the state. The 147-member Odisha Legislative Assembly is scheduled to go for polls along with the Lok Sabha next year. And over the past few elections, the BJP has been making rapid gains in the state as far as elections to the lower house of the Parliament.

With the BJP making steady gains in the state, Naveen Patnaik-led BJD needs to be more cautious as it is fighting for its survival in the only state that it controls and as Patnaik is likely to seek his sixth term in office in 2024.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls the BJD was able to secure 13 constituencies while the BJP won 8 seats. This is in contrast to the 2014 general elections when the BJD had won 20 seats and BJP had secured just one seat.

The BJP has been eyeing expansion in Eastern India and has identified Odisha as one of the states where it can improve its performance in the 2024 general elections.

Interestingly, BJD and BJP had earlier fought elections as alliance partners. However, the allies parted ways in 2008 after BJD walked out of the NDA post the Kandhamal riots in the state.

Over the past decade, the saffron unit leaders' have worked tirelessly to replace Congress as the main opposition in the state and now want to offer an alternative to the people of the state which has been ruled by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik led Biju Janata Dal since 2000.

The BJP is desperate to secure Odisha for itself in next year's polls as it has been completely erased from power in eastern India and non-BJP parties are now in government in electorally significant Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.

With the BJP already hitting the saturation mark in North, West and Northeast India, this region along with the South are the main hopes for growth and more seats for the saffron unit in the 2024 general elections as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks his third term in office.