Winter session of Odisha Assembly set to be stormy

SUBRAT DAS Bhubaneswar, Nov 30: The winter session of the Odisha Assembly, scheduled to begin on Wednesday, is set to be stormy with opposition parties planning to corner the state government over a range of issues including the sensational murder of a lady teacher in Kalahandi district. Both the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress have decided to take on the BJD government by raising the Mamita Meher murder case issue. The opposition claimed that the Minister of State for Home Dibya Shankar Mishra has close links with the prime accused in the murder case. “We have decided to demand a CBI probe and resignation of the Minister in the Mamita Meher murder case. Besides, deterioration of law and order, irregularities in paddy procurement, and housing scam, etc would be raised during the winter session,” said opposition chief whip Mohan Charan Majhi after the BJP legislature party meeting. Congress MLAs also met at the party's state headquarters to decide their floor strategy. "We will not allow the House to function till the government agrees to discuss Mamita Meher issue on the floor and the Minister of State for Home Captain Dibya Sankar Mishra steps down on the moral ground. We will raise issues against deterioration in law and order situation, farmers' woes and price rise of essential commodities", said Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati. On the other hand, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has decided to raise the price rise of fuel and cooking gas to counter the opposition. “The central government has neglected Odisha several times. We will raise several issues during the session including the price rise of essential commodities and LPG, coal royalty, and minimum support price of paddy,” said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh. He said the government is ready to discuss any issues to be raised by the opposition parties on the floor of the House. The ruling BJD held its legislature party meeting on Saturday. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik attended the meeting through video-conferencing from his official residence Naveen Niwas.  Meanwhile, Director General of Police, Abhay took stock of the security arrangements near and around the Legislative Assembly ahead of the month-long winter session. The winter session of the Odisha Assembly, which will begin tomorrow, will conclude on December 31.