Mamata Banerjee and Naveen Patnaik bat for strong federal structure

BHUBANESHWAR: Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik on Thursday called for an urgent need to protect the country’s federal structure after a meeting at Patnaik’s residence here.
The meeting, which lasted for about 40 minutes, came a few days after Banerjee called upon another opposition leader, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, in Kolkata. Their meeting, and subsequent statements by their parties to remain equidistant from both Congress and BJP, had triggered intense speculation of a possible non-Congress front taking on BJP in the 2024 general elections.
Banerjee is also scheduled to meet former Karnataka CM H D Kumaraswamy at her residence in Kalighat on Friday.
After Thursday’s meeting, however, both Banerjee and Patnaik denied that they had a serious political discussion.
“There was no in-depth discussion on any serious political matter. We just said the federal structure in India should remain strong and permanent,” Patnaik said. Banerjee seconded his view.