Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar/Bolangir, Feb 21:

The heat of the of the panchayat election in the state will be experienced in the Odisha Assembly’s budget session beginning tomorrow.

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Opposition Congress has planned to raise the issues of use of black money, misuse of government machinery, use of government officials as agents of the ruling party and violation of model code of conduct in the just concluded panchayat election.

The grand old party has also planned to raise the issues of drinking water shortage, problems of the farming community and deterioration of the education system in the state.

“In this election, there has been large-scale misuse of government machinery, government officials have been used as agents of the ruling party. Also, heavy amount of money has been spent to win elections,” said senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra.

The other Opposition party-BJP has planned to corner the government on the issues of the collapse of law and order, large-scale violence during the polls, farmers’ problem, mandi problem, distress sale of paddy, ration card scam and the shortage of doctors in the state.

“We will surely raise the issue of Biju Janata Dal not hesitating to murder opponents during this election. We will put the BJD in the dock on this account during the Assembly session,” said Basant Panda, president of the state unit of the BJP.

On the other hand, the ruling BJD has planned to counter the Opposition with its time-tested issue of Central neglect.

“The government is always prepared to debate issues pertaining to public interest whenever these are raised by the Opposition in the Assembly. Issues of Mahanadi, Polavaram and continued Central neglect of the state will figure during the session,” said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Arukh.

However, all major political parties of the state will hold meetings tomorrow to decide on the strategy they are going to adopt during the session.

The budget session of the Assembly will begin tomorrow with the Governor’s address and will continue till March 4 in the first phase while the second phase is scheduled to begin on March 14 and will end on April 4.