Adjourning Odisha Assembly sine die just after 4-day business undemocratic: Oppn

Bhubaneswar: With the winter session of Odisha Assembly adjourned sine die yesterday, at least 26 business days ahead of its schedule, the Opposition called the Speaker’s decision as ‘undemocratic’.

“After four days of business, the Speaker’s decision to adjourn the House sine die is undemocratic. This proves that the state government is afraid of the opposition. It has no answer to the opposition’s queries raised in the House. Therefore, they adjourned the House hurriedly for an indefinite period,” alleged Leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Narasingha Mishra.

Reacting to the adjournment of the winter session of the Odisha Assembly, he said, “We had many issues including farmers’ income, paddy procurement, and regional disparity to discuss in the House. Those could have been debated during question and zero hours. However, the government adjourned the House sine die to evade the questions.”

He described the government as escapist for such action, alleging the ministers of not being aware of any bill during discussion in the House.

“We are answerable to public. People are asking us why the House was adjounrned sine die in just four days. We will take this matter to people,” he told media.

Speaking on the issue, BJP Chief Whip Mohan Charan Majhi slammed the BJD government for such move to adjourn the House sine die before its scheduled time.

“The winter session of Assembly had begun on November 21 and it was scheduled to end on December 30. It had 30 business days. But the House was adjourned sine die just four days after its commencement. We had cooperated with the government for smooth conduct of the House. However, the Speaker Madam announced sine die citing there is no government business in the House,” Majhi said.

“Many government bills could have been tabled during the session. So many issues could have been discussed. But, nothing happened. The BJD government has scripted a history in adjourning the House sine die with just four business days. This is unfortunate,” he lambasted.

Targetting the government and its system, the senior BJP leader said that the government spent crores of rupees on travel of the then 5T secretary to collect grievances from people in different constituencies across the state. During the session, many protests were staged at lower PMG area over various issues. Unfortuantely, neither the ministers of concerned departments nor the 5T Chairman could reach out the people, who have been staging sit-in at Dharna place that is just 300 mtrs away from Assembly.

“The government opted for escape sitaution without addressing none of the important issues. Rather, it adjourned the House for indefinite period,” Majhi alleged.