Bhubaneswar: Despite a personal invite from Chief Minister Mohan Majhi, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Naveen Patnaik skipped the all-party meeting convened by Speaker Surama Padhi ahead of the Budget session of the State Assembly on Sunday.
While Opposition whip Pramila Mallik attended the meeting, none from the Congress was present. Speaking to media, the Speaker said that suggestions of all present at the meeting were taken for smooth conduct of the proceedings. “The Assembly will begin at 11 am with the Governor’s speech tomorrow,” she added.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Mahaling said that the CM invited the LoP for the meeting and sought his cooperation in building a developed Odisha this morning. “Since the Congress was yet to announce its legislature party leader, I spoke to Congress president, Sarat Pattanayak, over phone. But they did attend the meeting. I had also spoken to Laxman Munda of CPI(M),” he said.
Mahaling said that the proceedings of the Assembly will be held in accordance with the rules. “The Opposition whip has assured support for smooth running of the House,” he added.
Senior Congress leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati termed the absence of its MLAs in the meeting as unfortunate. “Since there was no direction from the party leadership and the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) was not appointed, it would not have been appropriate for me to attend the meeting. Perhaps, it was for the first time that none from the party attended the all-party meeting,” he added.
Later, the Congress announced appointment of Pottangi MLA Rama Chandra Kadam as CLP leader and Basudevpur MLA Ashok Das as his deputy in the Odisha assembly. Rajgangpur legislator C S Raazen Ekka has been appointed as the chief whip.
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