BJD, Oppn Brace Up For Winter Session Of Odisha Assembly

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Bhubaneswar: With the winter session of the Odisha Assembly beginning from Friday, the ruling BJD and the Opposition have braced up to corner each other. To discuss the strategy to counter the Opposition, BJD legislature party had a meeting, presided over by the party president Naveen Patnaik on Thursday evening.

Talking to mediapersons after the meeting, Naveen said his party would take up the issue of Central apathy towards Odisha, special state category status and hike in fuel price. “We are ready to answer all issues to be raised by the Opposition during the session,” he added. The Congress Legislature party also had a meeting presided over by the PCC president Niranjan Patnaik in the evening.

Briefing the media later, party spokesperson Anshuman Mohanty, said his party would raise the issues relating to the plight of the farmers, unemployment, Ama Gaon Ama Vikash Yojana and Biju Yuva Vahini. Besides, the failure of the state government in handling the post-cyclone Titli disaster will also be raised. Sources in the BJP said that the party will have its legislature party meeting tomorrow.

The winter session will have a total of 23 working days. Barring all Sundays, there will be two more holidays on November 21 (birthday of Prophet Mohammad) and 23 (Rasa Purnima). During the session, the state government will place important bills in the Assembly, which have been approved by the state cabinet in its recent meetings. 

The session will conclude on December 15. Meanwhile, a high-level review meeting presided over by the Director General of Police (DGP) R.P. Sharma discussed the security measures during the Assembly session.

Talking to the media after the meeting, Sharma said that 30 platoons of the armed police force would be deployed in around the Assembly. A total of 100 police officers would be engaged to monitor the security. Apart from this, the Quick Action Team (QAT) and the anti-terrorist squad will also be deployed during the session, he added.