Narendra Modi and (above) Naveen Patnaik

Bhubaneswar, June 1: Biju Janata Dal president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi tomorrow.

Naveen will be accompanied by all the newly elected Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members of his party at the meeting.

Last week, Naveen had sought an appointment with the prime minister. He is also scheduled to meet the new finance minister, Arun Jaitley, tomorrow.

Naveen’s proposed meeting with Modi assumes significance as the relationship of the two leaders had turned acrimonious with both targeting each other during the electioneering. Though Modi government has a comfortable majority in Lok Sabha, it badly requires the support of the regional parties in Rajya Sabha to ensure passage of various bills.

Sources said during tomorrow’s meeting, Naveen is likely to raise various issues pertaining to the state’s interest. The chief minister is likely to rake up the issue of controversial multi-purpose Polavaram project and make it clear that Odisha will continue to oppose the project as a number of villages in Malkangiri district are being threatened.

On May 29, the Union cabinet gave it nod to merge some villages and mandals of Telangana with Seemandhra in a bid to expedite Polavaram project work and President Pranab Mukherjee gave his stamp of approval to the ordinance. However, it did not go well with the BJD.

BJD leaders will also raise the issue of according a special-category state status to Odisha. However, the BJP has been silent on according special-category state status to Odisha in its national manifesto.

Before his parleys with the Prime Minister, Naveen had already reviewed various state issues relating to various ministries and departments in the central government, including the ministries of finance, home, railways, transport, urban development and rural development.