BJD Plea For Odisha Legislative Council Dubbed By BJP & Congress As A Tool To Placate Disgruntled Leaders

Bhubaneswar: Politics over the proposal to form legislative council in Odisha has gathered heat after ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Munna Khan expressed the hope that the state will have an upper house of the legislature. BJP and Congress have termed BJD’s plea for Vidhan Parishad as an exercise to rehabilitate disgruntled party leaders.

Strongly favouring the creation of legislative council in the state, the Rajya Sabha member said that many states have Vidhan Parishads and Odisha should also have an upper house. He said he has also raised the issue in Parliament.

Stating that a proposal for creation of a legislative council had been unanimously passed in the state Assembly and sent to the Centre for approval, Khan said serving people will become more efficient if legislative council is created.

Terming Khan’s remark as an eyewash, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattanayak said that BJD has been speaking about creation of legislative council for a very long time to keep the disgruntled leaders within the party fold.

With elections fast approaching, BJD is again raising the issue in order to stop its leaders from leaving the party and prevent a split in the organisation, he claimed.

Similarly, state BJP general secretary Biranchi Narayan Tripathy said that BJD raises the legislative council issue when elections approach to deal with conflicts within the party. He sought to know as to why BJD was silent all these days though the resolution for creation of legislative council was passed in the Assembly five years ago in 2018.