Opposition to corner govt on +2 results fiasco, mining scam

The Opposition consisting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress have planned to corner the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) led government in the first session of 15th assembly over discrepancies in +2 results, chit fund and mining scams, farmers' problems and law & order issues.

Both the parties have chalked out their plans in the party legislative meetings today. "We will raise issues like chit fund, report of the Shah Commission on mining scam, issues of farmers and law and order problems in the state in the assembly. If the government does not respond, we will not hesitate to go for street protest," said Basant Panda, spokesperson for BJP legislative party. Leaders of Congress, the main Opposition party, said they have discussed all the matters among the legislative party members to prioritise issues. "We have discussed among the legislative members about which issues we should prioritise in the assembly session and on which issues we will have to take a collective decision during the discussions," said Narasingha Mishra, the leader of opposition in the assembly and Congress MLA from Bolangir.

The BJD, which will be sitting on the treasury bench for the fourth time in a row since 2000, said it will discuss all the matters related to state in a positive manner.

"During the session, we will bring to the house very important matters and discuss them positively. What the members of Opposition bring up will also be discussed," said Naveen Patnaik, chief MInister and president of BJD.

In the 147-member state assembly, BJD has 117 members followed by 16 from Congress and 10 from BJP. While CPI (M) and Samata Kranti Dal candidates won one seat each, two seats have been captured by independent candidates. The session will begin from July 12 and will continue till July 28 in two phases. The first phase ends on July 23 and the second phase will run from July 9 to July 28.

The first day will start with the Governor's address. While the election of the deputy speaker of the assembly will be held on June 16, full state budget would be presented on June 17. The Appropriation Bill is scheduled to be placed before the Assembly for passing on July 28.