Mamata Banerjee meets Naveen Patnaik, denies any political discussion

Patnaik said that Mamata had come down to Bhuvaneshwar to meet him, as she was wrapping up her visit to Odisha.

"Courtesy call. No politics discussed," Odisha CM said.

Resonating the words of Patnaik, Banerjee said: "We did not discuss politics today. But politics is there 365 days."

The WB CM refused to give much importance to the recent performances of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal and Odisha where they increased their vote percentage.

"I don't believe the BJP is a threat. Regional parties can tackle them. But yes they are dividing everyone, people and even political parties. They sometimes purchase MLAs and ministers," Banerjee said.

While in Odisha, the BJP came up to the second spot in the recently concluded panchayat election giving a tough fight to Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal, in the latest by-election in an assembly seat of WB, the saffron party increased the vote percentage to 31, pushing the communist party to number three.

Though both the leaders did not say much about the aspiring federal front of the opposition, Banerjee spoke in favour of it to strengthen the federal structure of the country.

"It is a continuous process. We want regional parties to continue and strengthen the federal structure in the country according to the constitution," the TMC chief said.

The Trinamool Congress supremo was one of the first leaders who spoke in favour of creating federal front to tackle BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar too urged all non BJP parties to come together for a federal front to counter BJP, of late.

The WB CM was on three visit to Odisha primarily to meet TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhaya who is currently under the custody of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for his alleged involvement in the Rose Valley scam.

She even visited Puri's Jagannath Temple amidst the objection of a sevait to enter, who was also later detained by police.