Congress has lost Opposition party status in Odisha: Narasingha Mishra

Bhubaneswar: Senior Congress leader Narasingha Mishra today stated the party has lost the Opposition status following the Orissa High Court order disqualifying party's Sundergarh legislator Jogesh Singh on grounds of submitting fake caste certificate while filing nomination for the 2014 Assembly Elections.

"For the Opposition party tag, a political party needs one tenth of total seats of the House. As per the rule, Congress needs 15 members become the Opposition party. However, after disqualification of Jogesh Singh Congress' strength has has come down to 14," Mishra stated.

He further said, "The State government has to take the final decision whether they want a Leader of Opposition post or not."

The High Court disqualified Jogesh Singh while hearing petitions filed by BJP candidate Sahadev Xaxa and another voter Ajay Patel who alleged that Singh submitted false and fabricated caste certificate categorising himself as ‘Bhuyan’ tribe.