Patnaik's second Delhi visit in a month begins tomorrow

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to leave on a five-day visit to the national capital tomorrow, his second visit to Delhi in a month, amid speculation of non-BJP parties planning to field a united candidate for the ensuing presidential elections.
Sources said Patnaik is scheduled to attend a meeting of the NITI Ayog and meet some Union Ministers during his five days stay in the national capital. He is scheduled to return to the state on April 26.
Patnaik had been on a visit to Delhi earlier this month from April 7 to 11 and had attended the Inter-State Council meeting.

The Chief Minister's programme of visiting Delhi came a day after his meeting with his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee.
Banerjee had, however, claimed they had not discussed the presidential elections during the meeting.
Earlier in March, Patnaik had a discussion with JDU president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Bhubaneswar.
JD(U) spokesman K C Tyagi had then told a local news channel that Nitish had a talk with Naveen on the ensuing presidential elections and that efforts are on to field a candidate by non-BJP parties.