Follow up Odisha issues in Parliament, Naveen tells MPs

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Mar 7, 2015 at 4:19 PM Updated On : Mar 7, 2015 at 4:53 PM

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Mar 7:

Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik today told his party MPs to follow up various issues relating to Odisha in the Parliament.

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“We had detailed discussions on how the BJD MPs should follow up various issues relating to Odisha and for the benefit of our state,” Naveen told reporters after a meeting with the party MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha at his residence Naveen Niwas here.

He, however, ruled out any differences of opinion among the MPs on the issues over Central apathy towards Odisha.

“We will continue with our programs,” he added.

“We sit in the opposition bench. Our support is only issue based. The Union Tribal minister and the Prime Minister have said that Odisha would get Rs one lakh crore under the new provisions in mining while as per our estimate, the state would get Rs 650-700 crore. To whom they will give the remaining Rs 99,500 crore? The fact should be brought to the limelight, said MP Bhartruhari Mahtab.

‘We will place our view for the benefit of the state in the budget discussion on March 13. The mathematic jugglery of the Prime minister, who said the states would get 62 percent of the income, also need to be discussed,” he added.

Terming this on-off affair to be a media creation, BJD Lok Sabha MP Baijayant Panda said “We are playing the role of a constructive opposition. However, some people in the media get confused at times.”

“We had our demands on land acquisition bill in Lok Sabha. The same will continue. We are here to protect the rights of land losers and in for a win-win solution. We will announce the move after the discussion,” Panda pointed out.

Bolangir MP Kalikesh Narayan Singhdeo, who was present at the meeting, said his party has objections to many clauses of land acquisition bill. “We had also moved amendments in Lok Sabha. We will do the same in Rajya Sabha,” he informed.

“We are concerned about the development of Odisha. We have been repeatedly reminding the Centre of the Khordha-Bolangir railway project for which the state government has completed the land acquisition. Though the state government has made it clear that it would provide half of the money for this project, there is no response from the Centre till date. We have discussed the matter in the meeting and would raise it in the Parliament. We are always united and will follow the directive of our leader”, said Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patsani.