Bhubaneswar: The all-party meeting, convened by the Speaker for the second time today to end the deadlock in the State Assembly, remained inconclusive in spite of the presence of chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
Talking to media persons after the meeting, leader of the Opposition Narasingh Mishra said “We had demanded the presence of chief minister at the all-party meeting. But there is still no outcome of the meeting. There will be another round of meeting tomorrow. The meeting has not been entirely successful but cannot be said a failure.
BJP leader Rabi Naik said “We were hopeful that the chief minister would reply to the four questions we had raised in the Assembly. But unfortunately, we did not any reply from him”.
Government chief whip Anant Das said as regards the demands of the Opposition on removal of the chairman of the chit fund commission of inquiry, Justice MM Das, there is legal obstacles. Hence the issue cannot be discussed at the meeting.
But he claimed that the meeting was successful. “I don’t think that the meeting was unsuccessful. The meeting was successful. I hope that the Assembly will run smoothly from tomorrow,” he added.
Notably, Speaker Niranjan Pujari had convened the all-party meeting this morning. But as no consensus emerged at the meeting, the opposition Congress and BJP members created ruckus forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House till tomorrow.
Before adjourning the House, the Speaker had announced that he would convene another round of all-party meeting in the afternoon which was finally attended by the chief minister.