Budget session likely to get turbulent from today

Bhubaneswar: After day one of the Budget session of the Odisha Assembly ended in formalities; the House is likely to enter into a stormy phase as the Opposition is on the prowl with its guns trained at the State government on a host of issues.

Opposition is all set to raise its pitch on issues spanning from agriculture, farmer suicides, ration card bungling, potato mission, to BJD leaders' links with recently arrested criminal brothers Sushil and Sushant Dhalasamant.

Opposition parties have already set the tone by terming the Governor’s address on Day 1 as far from reality. Alleging that the State government wanted to show only a ‘rosy picture’ about Odisha’s development and progress while the real picture is completely ‘negative’, the parities lambasted the ruling BJD for not presenting facts and figures during the first day of the session.

“Two years back, the ruling party had promised 35% irrigation facility in every block of the State. Has it succeeded in this? Does the party have any answer to our question? We want a reply from the party and not false assurances on development and industrialisation,” BJP MLA Pradeep Purohit had rued yesterday.

On the other hand, senior Congress leader Narasingha Mishra said “The State government has ditched the people of Odisha through the speech of the Governor. The speech was from today itself proved that the law and order situation in Odisha has deteriorated.”