New Anti-BJP Front For 2024 Lok Sabha Polls? Mamata Banerjee To Meet HD Kumaraswamy Today

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will hold a crucial meeting with Janata Dal (S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Friday, a week after she met with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav in Kolkata. According to party sources, the Mamata-Kumaraswamy meeting will be held at the TMC supremo's residence in Bhawanipore at 4 PM. The JD(S) leader will arrive in the city around noon to meet Banerjee, who is also the TMC supremo, a senior leader of the party said. 

"The two leaders will discuss the present political situation in the country and the way forward to fight and defeat  BJP in 2024 (general election),” he said on condition of anonymity.  According to TMC leaders, the meetings with non-Congress, non-BJP leaders are part of the party's efforts to cobble up an “opposition unity with regional powers”. 

Kumaraswamy attended the meeting of opposition parties convened by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the city in January 2019 ahead of the Lok Sabha poll that year. Friday's meeting with him is likely to be Banerjee's third meeting with a non-BJP, non-Congress party leader within a week. 

Mamata Meets Patnaik In Odisha

 

On Thursday, Mamata met his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik and resolved to make the federal structure of the country "strong and permanent". The statement came after a much-awaited meeting of the two chief ministers held at the conclusion of Banerjee's three-day visit to Odisha. Addressing reporters at the end of the meeting at Naveen Niwas - Patnaik's residence - with Banerjee beside him, the Odisha CM said, "We resolved to make the federal structure of the country permanent and strong. There was no other political discussion." Banerjee seconded Patnaik and said, "I strongly support what Naveen ji said and I appreciate this. We also discussed democratic rights and the safety of the nation."

She also sought iron ore for industries in her state and proposed an industrial corridor between the two states. However, speculation remained rife that the meeting was part of Banerjee's plan to form an opposition front with regional players minus the Congress. TMC had also announced it would hold talks with other regional parties in their bid to take on the BJP in the crucial 2024 elections though it officially continued to deny any plans for a 'Third Front', separate from the Congress-led broad coalition.

No Official Word On Formation Of Third Front

 

After Thursday's meeting at Patnaik's residence too, both the leaders skipped questions on the possibility of a third front or a regional alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. "It was a courtesy meeting. There was no in-depth discussion about serious political matters. We share a very old friendship," Patnaik said. Banerjee thanked Patnaik for handing over two acres of land for the construction of a Bengal government guest house in Puri.

Banerjee had last week met SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and said that the two parties will maintain equal distance from BJP and the Congress and reach out to regional parties ahead of the polls.