The women members have claimed that as per the direction of the Brahmagiri MLA Sanjay Das Burma the Mission Shakti programme is being carried out in the block. Besides, they also alleged that office bearers of the Odisha Livelihood Mission (OLM) were selected on the basis of party affiliation and reference of Burma.
“In Brahmagiri block, under the Odisha livelihood mission (OLM), wives and relatives of sarpanch and samiti members are selected as office bearers. Therefore, if someone wants to work in an SHG, she has to be a slave of the MLA,” alleged Sasmita Sahu, president of the Shaktirupa SHG during Mission Shakti convention on Saturday.
Some others alleged that the women SHGs are forced to work under political pressure.
“The women in the State are in distress. Whatever is happening is under pressure,” stated Nirupama Das, a resident of Brahmagiri.
On the other hand, BJP leader Aparajita Sarangi alleged that the State government had asked authorities to provide seed money to SHGs by October 15 but there has been a delay of three months. Sarangi also raised questions on the number of SHGs in the State.
Meanwhile, OPCC Chief Niranjan Patnaik said the ruling party is trying to buy votes by providing financial assistance. “CM wants to give Rs 1,500 every woman member of the SHG and is trying to garner vote with through that,” Patnaik said.
Expressing similar views, BJP leader KV Singhdeo said, “Keeping polls in mind, the Chief Minister is trying to win over women voters.”
Declining the charges, BJD spokesperson, Sameer Das, said, “Information on the government schemes is available on the website. The allegations are being made to mislead people of the state."
Despite repeated attempts, comments from the Brahmagiri MLA could not be obtained.
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.
“We had fielded a woman candidate for the post of ZP chairman. However, Congress’ Hemanand Biswal and MLA Jogesh Singh didn’t support us. It seems like Prafulla Majhi was interested in offering his support to us. However, it looks like a secret internal deal was struck among them,” said union minister and senior BJP leader Jual Oram.
“We demand a CBI probe into this whole incident as such high profile persons are involved in it,” said BJP youth wing president, Tankadhar Tripathy.
The ruling party refuted the allegations.
“There is no question of horse trading as BJD had a majority. BJP’s claims are baseless,” said BJD MLA, Pravat Biswal.
Also Read: Cong MLA alleges horse trading after member defects in Sundergarh ZP chairman poll
Meanwhile, in a letter to the leader of the Opposition and senior party leader Narsingh Mishra, Majhi has termed the alliance between the BJD and Congress as unethical and unholy, and blamed the district Congress president for the same.
“Because it is an unholy alliance, I am against it. Though I had already spoken to the District Congress President to maintain equal distance from BJD and BJP, it was not done. Hence this letter will go to the Congress high command through the leader of Opposition,” stated Majhi.
Interestingly, such allegation has been brought after a Congress ZP member voted for a BJD candidate who subsequently went on to claim the post.
“I have the information that, Rs 1 crore-deal has been struck to support the BJD candidate and the exact amount can only be verified from those who were involved in the transaction. Definitely, either the district president of the party or the Pradesh Congress Committee is involved in the matter. Otherwise such a deal would have not been possible. I would suggest that those who are involved should be expelled from the party as soon as possible,” said Majhi.
On the other hand, the allegations were struck down by senior Congress leader Hemanand Biswal.
Also Read: Congress’ Odisha in-charge BK Hariprasad resigns
“What horse trading Majhi is talking about, I have no clue. If he can prove my involvement then I will quit politics,” said Biswal.
As learnt from sources, such a deal was struck on March 8 at a hotel in Bhubaneswar.
“I was present there in a hotel in Bhubaneswar along with the election in-charge of the party. We have never dealt with any ministers and whatever decision was taken it was based on everyone’s suggestions. We joined hands with BJD and because they agreed to our demands of giving us the vice-president post,” said Congress MLA, Jogesh Singh.
“There were not closed-door meetings. Every ZP member barring one was present when we were approached by some agent of the ruling BJD. Majhi should prove his allegation, else we will file a defamation suit,” said District Congress president, Dushmant Nayak.
According to sources, Section 51 of the Act has been amended to allow agents of every party to be present during the election the chairman. The agents will be appointed by the respective parties and the respective ZP members will have to inform their agents about the candidates they have voted to become the chairman.
As per the amended rules, an authorised agent of each political party will be allowed to verify the ballot papers of the party members before they cast their votes.
"Every political party, whose member as an elector casts a vote for the purpose of election to the office of the President, or as the case may be, the Vice President, may appoint one authorised agent," said a notification issued by the Panchayati Raj Department.
It said the President and the General Secretary of the state party/state unit of national political party will inform the Election Officer about the agent prior to the election day.
The new rules would come into force on the date of its publication in the Odisha Gazette.
The new clauses mentioned that the Election Officer will allow the authorised agents to verify as to whom elected members of their party have cast their votes.
However, such a change was seen by BJP as a violation of law prompting it to move the High Court challenging the amendment.
According to Union minister and senior BJP leader Jual Oram, Sundergarh ZP member Sukhlal Munda has filed a case in the HC. Sources informed that the HC will hear the plea on March 15.
“Such an amendment is unconstitutional and undemocratic which is the reason why we have challenged it in the HC. A case has been filed by ZP member Sukhlal Munda challenging the decision to change the rules in the middle of elections,” said Oram.
“During the process of election, the government cannot make any change in the law. The Assembly should have been taken into confidence while making such amendment. This is unconstitutional, arbitrary, illegal, and on the part of the government, it is mala fide exercise of power,” said senior BJP leader, Biswabhushan Harichandan.
Minister Damodar Rout responded to such allegations saying, “Just like in Rajya Sabha, an agent should be present during voting to ensure that there is no cross-voting and everyone is following the decision of the party.
Also Read: Parties indulge in horse trading ahead of ZP Council formation
Moreover, the ruling-BJD also issued a whip to all its elected ZP members. Party sources said, the whip has been issued through the district presidents by party chief Naveen Patnaik. The whip warns its concerned recipients that any violation of guidelines stated therein will be construed as anti-party and stringent action will be initiated, informed sources.
In wake of such a whip being issued, Oram responded saying “Actually BJD is very scared now. There is internal conflict among its leaders in at least, 5 to 6 district. The party has panicked and taken such a decision overnight,” said Oram.
“It looks like the BJP was expecting a lot from horse trading and now seems to have suffered loss on account of such anti-defection law,” said BJD spokesperson Amar Satpathy in response to Oram.
This time, Rout hit out at State Health Minister Pratap Jena during a ‘Swabhiman Sabha’ programme at Jaldharpur under Kujang in Paradip and said that he doubts Jena will be re-elected to the Odisha Assembly in the upcoming 2019 general elections
Terming the ruling party as a dampener for the people of Odisha, he lashed out at Jena saying, “He has been thrashed by the people of his constituency (Mahanga) and also had to go to police station. Therefore, he is not visiting there and coming to my constituency.”
“I doubt whether he gets re-elected to the Assembly during the ensuing polls. Therefore, he should look into that before advising me,” added Dama.
On the other hand, Jena and Cuttack Barabati MLA Debasish Samantaray jointly targeted Rout during the party’s 'Jana Sampark Padyatra' at Rahama in Jagatsinghpur district.
Also Read: BJP alleges secret nexus between Dilip-Bijoy & BJD
“I have heard many people saying that when he (Dama) was in the party, they were being exploited. But after his exit, they are happy,” said Jena.
“I contested election from Cuttack as per the direction of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and now if he asks me to contest polls from Paradip, I will definitely abide by that,” stated Samantaray.
Earlier Samantaray had expressed his interest to fight the upcoming polls from Paradip Assembly constituency.
Once we accept that Patro had the supremo’s nod, the question that inevitably follows is: what has changed? Remember Naveen has made it repeatedly and abundantly clear – the last time he did so was as recently as during the campaign last month – that he has ‘no national ambitions’. “I am happy serving my four and a half crore Odia people” has been his stock reply every time he has been asked the question and it was no different the last time either.
So, what indeed has changed in less than a month? There are three possible answers to this question. The first of these is this: looking at the uncertainty over the formation of the next government at the Centre, Naveen has suddenly developed a ‘national ambition’ and has decided to throw his hat into the ring. Since expressing this new-found ‘ambition’ himself would have been embarrassing for him considering his utterances on the topic in the past, he got a senior – and, more importantly, loyal – leader to do the job. The calculation could be that the post-May 23 scenario would be somewhat like it was in 1996 when HD Deve Gowda became the Prime Minister simply because he had brought the largest number of MPs from a single state (Karnataka-15) for the non-Congress party that had the largest number of seats in Parliament: Janata Dal (43). Of course, it could also be just a way of testing the waters and see how other parties respond to the idea.
The other possible reason for this sudden development could be the BJD is not really keen to throw its hat into the ring but is just raising the stakes for whoever comes shopping for its support. Raise the stakes, strike a hard bargain and get the best for the state, the party and its leader – this could well be the BJD’s game plan for the moment.
The third explanation for Patro saying what he said (rather uncharitable to him) is he has hit upon this bright idea of pushing his supremo ‘upstairs’ so that the he, as the most loyal and senior most leader in the party after the exit of Damdar Rout, could manoeuvre his way on to the chair he vacates!
This writer would go with the second reason for this sudden ‘Naveen for PM’ chant. The third looks too far-fetched and the first too uncharacteristic of Naveen to merit any serious consideration. While he has been an unchallenged leader in Odisha since the day he stepped into politics, no one knows it better than Naveen that his demeanour, style and temperament will not suit the demands of running a squabbling coalition of two dozen or more parties at the national level. Knowing that the support of even a dozen MPs could make or mar the chances of forming the government for the major coalitions in what is widely expected to be a hung Parliament, the BJD boss is merely raising the stakes in preparation for striking a hard bargain.
This author believes more important than his ‘Naveen for PM’ chant is the other part of Patro’s statement. While making a case for Naveen to be made Prime Minister - supposedly because the people of India and Odisha wanted him to see as such! – the senior leader added a significant rider; ‘but not with Congress support because the party has a history of pulling the rug after a few months’. There are two ways to look at the rider. One, it could be a signal that the BJD would have no truck with the Congress - or even that it does not think the party would be in a position to make a serious bid for power at the Centre. Two, it was an indication to the Congress that it has to outbid the BJP/NDA, which has already started efforts to prove that it would offer the ‘best deal’ to Odisha by announcing a handsome interim package for the restoration work post-Cyclone ‘Fani’.
At the moment, the BJP and BJD, which were swearing at each other only weeks ago, certainly seem to be coming closer to each other. But it would be a mistake to assume things are going to stay this way for long. We shall have to wait till May 23 and see how the numbers stack up to know whose ‘deal’ Naveen will finally decide to accept.
(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are author’s own and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
"According to 2007 Maintainability Act, Odisha govt has implemented the rules and regulation under which victims can register cases. District collector is the appellate authority. Out of more than 200 cases, final verdict of most is out and one person from Puri was jailed for 25 days," informed Panda.
At a cost Rs 62 crore, construction work of 150 coordinated complexes for elderly residents have begun in nine districts-Khurda, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Puri, Ganjam, Bhadrak, Malkangiri, Balasore and Kandhamal, informed Panda. He also added that 44 old age homes are being constructed by NGOs across the State.
Speaking on the issue, Congress MLA Sura Routray said, "There should be a special old age home in Bhubaneswar where complete care of elderly should be taken along with provision of food and healthcare."
The accused, Manas Mohanty of Durgi village had been disseminating wrong information about the party for the past few years with the help of accounts opened on different social media platforms in the name of 'Durgi Samachar', 'Namaskar Durgi' and 'Rayagada Khabar'.
On basis of three cases lodged against Mohanty at the Bissamcuttack police station, the police arrested him from Durgi village today.
As per latest reports, police probe is underway and questioning of the accused is going on to elicit further information.
While BJP accused BJD of threatening existing beneficiaries and contriving to include ineligible beneficiaries in government schemes through such Aadhaar linking exercise, Congress called it a political gimmick to woo voters.
“The same BJD which was against Aadhaar has now made it mandatory for its party membership. By doing this they will threaten the existing beneficiaries and use government schemes to strong-arm them,” said Odisha BJP vice-president, Samir Mohanty.
Former Pradesh Congress Committee President, Jayadev Jena, said, “By making Aadhaar mandatory for party membership, BJD is planning to keep people like mortgages.”
Refuting the allegations, BJD vice-president Prasanna Acharya said, “We have not done that (mandatory Aadhaar linking) to threaten people. Perhaps, Opposition parties are scared of such an extensive plan.”
“BJD making Aadhaar linking mandatory for new members is misuse of the facility,” political expert Prasanna Mohanty said.
BJD’s Treasurer, Subash Singh said, “We have made Aadhaar linking mandatory for all projects to avoid duplication. BJD doesn’t harbour any intention to threaten anyone.”
The membership drive was officially launched today in the presence of party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who became first member from Ekamra constituency's ward no 53. Along with Minister Ashok Panda, the BJD president inducted 24 other members into the party.
As per reports, a committee has been formed by the party with MLA Debi Prasad Mishra as Convener. Under his leadership, the committee has planned to execute the membership drive at grassroots level. While the membership drive will be carried out both offline as well as online, the party aims to induct 1 crore new members.
"Our aim is to reach every household across the State through this programme. We hope that with the blessings of Odisha residents, membership drive will be successful," said Patnaik.
The membership drive will continue till October 31.
The incident took place at Ambasarmunda village of Angul district where Athmallick MLA Ravi Sai was invited as chief guest by the members of Gond community who were organising special puja on the occasion of Samba Dashami.
During the event, while walking on the road along with his associates, Rai suddenly started to shiver and behaved weirdly. Supposing that he was possessed by some godly spirit, locals started to worship him by offering flowers.
The matter came to the fore after a video of the incident went viral on social media platforms.
The incident sparked criticism from various corners. Speaking on the incident, rationalist Debendra Sutar said, “It seems like a public stunt and an act by the MLA to gain attention of people.”
Before plunging into politics, the Athmallick MLA reportedly served as an administrator and engineer.