Stalemate in Orissa assembly continues

Stalemate in the Orissa assembly continued for the fourth day today over the voice vote by which the Naveen Patnaik government won the trust motion as Governor M C Bhandare was yet to form any final opinion while weighing various options.

+The Governor is yet to take a decision on the matter. The process of consultations is still continuing and at least one more day may be required for taking a view,+ highly placed sources in Raj Bhavan said.

After scrutinising the video recordings of the assembly proceedings during trust vote held on March 11 and consulting constitutional experts, Bhandare was now examining the letter submitted last night by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in which he claimed to have proved majority of his government twice.

Patnaik, who held discussions with the Governor for about 90 minutes, claimed his government had the required majority even after BJP withdrew its support on March 7 following collapse of BJD-BJP alliance over seat sharing.

Patnaik impressed upon Bhandare that his government had proved its majority once on March 8 when more than 74 mlas paraded before the Governor and later on March 11 on the floor of the assembly during the special session.

The BJD supremo hoped it would be clear from the letter that his government had the required majority.