Legislative Council a rehab scheme of Odisha govt: Opp

Odisha Sun Times Political Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jan 2:

The initiative by the Odisha government to constitute a Legislative Council has been strongly criticised by the opposition political parties.

“In case the Legislative Council is formed, it will have a majority of the members from the ruling BJD. Thereby, the BJD government will raise its bargain value before the Centre. Aware of the growing resentment and dissension in the party, the government has no option but to rehabilitate the dissidents in the Council,” said president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee, Prasad Harichandan.

Criticising the move of the state government, state BJP president KV Singhdeo said the BJD high command has been rehabilitating the party leaders who lost the elections as chairpersons of state-owned corporations. “The government plans to take the rehabilitation scheme further by constituting the Legislative Council,” he said.

“We will expresss our opinion on this issue during the discussion on the subject in the State Legislative Assembly,” he added.

Singhdeo’s party colleague and Union minister of state for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, however, struck a somewhat discordant note in the opposition ranks welcoming the efforts of the state government to constitute the Legislative Council.

“It is always praiseworthy if the state government thinks about the poor and downtrodden people and make efforts for their all round development through introduction of new constitutional provisions and formulation of rules and laws. But the state government, before constituting the Council, should first think of running the State Legislative Assembly properly,” he added.

“If there are plans to include those who have either lost the elections or havethe support of the government, then it would be a useless Council that cannot fulfil the aspirations of the people,” quipped former BJD leader and president of the Odisha Jan Morcha, Pyari Mohan Mohapatra.

Veteran Congress leader and former Chief Minister JB Patnaik was non-committal on the issue saying; “Some states have Legislative Councils. If the BJD government is keen on having a Council, we have nothing to say about it. There was no Legislative Council in Odisha since there was no need for it. If the BJD government thinks that it has got enough money and is confident of constituting the Council, let it do it,” he said.

Predictably enough, BJD leader and former minister Rabi Narayan Nanda supported the move saying the need for a Legislative Council in Odisha was felt bya lot of people for a long time.

“The BJD and the Naveen Patnaik government always work for the people to fulfil their their demands and requirements,” he said.