Cong raises pitch in house, tries to make up for the numbers

BHUBANESWAR: The Congress, with just nine MLAs in the assembly, is trying hard to make its presence felt. On Tuesday, the first day of the new assembly, Congress legislators decided to up the ante from the start. Alleging nexus between the BJD and the BJP, the party protested against the speaker’s mention of BJP legislature party leader Pradipta Naik as the leader of opposition (LoP) during the obituary reference.
The Congress MLAs’ contention, Naik was termed the LoP without a formal announcement in the assembly. They trooped into the well of the house and continued with their protests during the discussion on the motion of thanks on the governor’s address, before staging a walkout.
“It is unfortunate that we did not even get to know whether the BJP had formally submitted a proposal to claim the position of LoP. The party has no right to claim the status of main opposition party. Together with the BJD, the BJP set a new low in the country after the ruling party gave one Rajya Sabha seat to the BJP without a formal alliance. How can the BJP claim the position of LoP?” Congress legislature party leader Narasingha Mishra said.
The Congress veteran, who had a heated exchange of words with the speaker over his decision to address Naik as LoP without informing it in the house, said they staged a walkout as the speaker did not pay heed to their concerns.
“As per tradition, the speaker should have adjourned the house and called an all-party meeting to end the deadlock. Instead, the speaker asked me to bring the house to order,” Mishra added.
The BJP, which won 23 seats in the assembly election, is the main opposition. The party has nominated Naik, a four-time MLA, as the leader of the legislature party.
“The resolution copy of our legislature party meeting was submitted at the assembly secretariat. But it was delayed a bit due to the last minute declaration,” said Naik.
Naik, who had earlier served as a minister in the BJD-BJP alliance government, rubbished the Congress’ allegation of nexus between the former partners. “Our ideology is different from that of the BJD. How can there be any alliance between us?” Naik asked.
Government chief whip Pramila Mallik also rubbished the allegations levelled by the Congress. “BJD has no nexus with any other party. Our main concern is to serve the people of Odisha,” said Mallik.
EoM