Political mudslinging at its peak after winter session cut short

Bhubaneswar: With the Odisha Assembly Speaker Pradip Amat adjourning the winter session of the House for an indefinite period yesterday, 18 days ahead of the schedule, political mudslinging has now sparked between the ruling and Opposition parties.

While the BJP alleged that the ruling-party in association with the Congress has decided to adjourn the House abruptly after being unable to face several issues raised in the House, the Congress has accused the BJD of diverting attention from core issues and adjourning the House on basis of majority.

On the other hand, the ruling party said the House was adjourned on basis of a consensus since there were no official businesses left.

“To hide its inabilities, the State government has adopted an escapist route and BJP will not tolerate it. In coming days BJP will expose the ruling party’s undemocratic step,” said Pradip Purohit, BJP MLA.

In his reaction, Congress working president, Naba Kishore Das said, “There might not be any official business, but there are issues of people which need to be discussed. The State Assembly is for people of the State, not for the ruling party. The adjournment decision is unfortunate and we did not have a consensus as being said by the ruling party. The BJD has the majority and thereby, they adjourned the House after bringing a motion.”

However, BJD spokesperson, Amar Prasad Satpathy said, “The Speaker had called an all-party meeting to discuss about the working days. Moreover, as there was no business left for the House to transact, it was adjourned ahead of schedule on basis of a proposal moved after a consensus.”

Sources said issues related to cyclone Titli-affected areas was supposed to be discussed yesterday after a motion was moved by the Opposition but the Speaker called the all-party meeting in the afternoon and adjourned the House sine die.

The move to adjourn the winter session much ahead of the schedule has not gone down well with political pundits who have questioned the motive of the ruling party.

“Due to the failure of the State government on several accounts and its anti-people activities, it faced criticism. Both the BJD and State administration did not want to face the House and planned to restrict it to fewer working days,” political expert Prabhu Kalayan Mohapatra said.

The winter session which had started on November 16 was slated to be ended on December 15. The Assembly Secretariat has issued a notification for 23 working days. However, it functioned only for five working days. Talks are doing rounds that the decision to adjourn the session after only 5 days of proceedings was taken while looking at the Men's Hockey World Cup beginning November 28.

Sources said the Assembly should function for at least 60 days in a year. But on basis of a proposal for 45 working days moved in the House, the proceedings have been cut short. Earlier also the State government had cut short the sessions of the House.