Deadlock over Odisha Vidhan Parishad intensifies

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jan 12:

The tug of war over the proposed Odisha Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council) intensified today with ruling BJD refusing to bend down to opposition demands for an immediate all party meet on the issue.

Assembly 1 LARGE

Defending the move of the government, BJD Spokesperson Pratap Jena said, “The decision to form the committee is the correct decision. There is always a scope to discuss this matter in an all party meeting after the committee visitsa  few states and submits its report.”

However, senior BJP leader Biswa Bhusan Harichandan said, “If an all party meeting can’t be convened before taking such an important decision, we would have to understand that this government doesn’t believe in democracy. They should have consulted with all parties before going ahead. It is pointless to call the all party meeting after going ahead with the visit and presenting a fait accompli to us.”

Former PCC president Niranjan Patnaik said, “It was mportant for the government to have consulted leaders across all political parties before taking the decision on the committee. But then the aim of the government was never betterment of people. All they are now trying to do is to use their brute majority in the House to rehabilitate some of their members.”

On Jan 7, Parliamentary Affairs Minister of the state Bikram Keshari Arukh had announced suo motu that a five- member committee will be sent to Karnataka and Maharashtra to study the functioning of legislative councils there and submit a report to the government by the end of this month.

Reacting to the development, BJP leader Basant Panda had said on Jan 9, “We would have accepted it, had it been done by the Speaker. Also, the party should nominate the member of the committee, not the government.” Congress had followed suit later the same day accusing BJD of trying to rehabilitate its members and demanding an all party meet to discuss the issue.

Also Read

Comments are closed.