Bhubaneswar: A special committee from the State would visit neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Bihar to study the functioning of their Legislative Councils for setting up a Vidhan Parishad in Odisha, informed the chairman of the committee and Commerce and Transport minister Nrusingha Charan Sahu today.
The committee would look into the working of both the Legislative Councils and the data collected will help in the formation of a Vidhan Parishad in Odisha, he said.
Speaking to media, the Transport minister informed, “A special committee from Odisha will visit AP and Bihar and submit a report after a detailed study of the functioning of their Legislative Councils. The committee had earlier visited Karnataka and Maharashtra, and the reports have not been finalised yet. In these two states, Legislative Councils were formed first and then the Assembly. The committee was also directed to visit AP and Bihar, where Assembly was formed first and then the Legislative Council, a situation similar to that in Odisha.”
However, the Bharatiya Janata Party has called the exercise a drama to hoodwink people of Odisha ahead of the 2019 polls.
In reaction to Nrusingha Sahu's statements, BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra said, “The move by Odisha government is just a drama to mislead people ahead of upcoming polls. If it was so necessary, they could have established it after a visit to other States in 2015. This is nothing but a trick ahead of the polls.”
According to reports, with demands from several quarters for formation of a Legislative Council in the State, a study panel was formed in 2015 to learn the functioning and collect data from other states.
Reportedly, the first meeting of the study panel on Vidhan Parishad was held on January 19, 2015 with the Congress and BJP refusing to be a part of the meeting. The committee that was formed had visited Maharashtra and Karnataka on January 31, 2015.