Mamata meets Patnaik, says regional parties enough to tackle BJP

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], Apr 20 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not a threat as even the regional parties are enough to tackle it. Mamata's assertion came post her meeting with Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik. Accusing the BJP of playing politics of division, Mamata said the saffron party also resorts to buying the minister and MLAs of other parties. "They divide caste, parties. They divide Hindu-Muslims. They also purchase ministers, MLAs. We don't do that. We believe in unity," she told the media here. Mamata also stated that the secular parties are always together. Responding to a poser on having discussions on forming an alliance to stand against the BJP, Patnaik said they did not have any talks regarding the same. "We had no such discussions today," Patnaik said. Where the South saw the meeting of two state Chief Ministers, the national capital witnessed the meeting between Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Nitish has been calling for the formation of grand alliance of secular parties at national level to take on the BJP. The same is believed to have been raised in the meeting held between the duo today. The Congress is a partner in the Bihar Government with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal (United). (ANI)