BJD hopes to turn up the heat on BJP in Rajya Sabha, starting with Budget session | India News

The Biju Janata Dal Friday elected Naveen Patnaik as Chairman of its Parliamentary Party – a decision taken at a party meeting to discuss its strategy ahead of the Budget session, starting July 22.

Patnaik, the BJD chief, chaired the meeting, which was attended by its nine Rajya Sabha members. “As part of our resolve to aggressively raise the voice of Odisha in the Parliament, all the MPs that requested our president be the chairman of the Parliamentary Party,” BJD Rajya Sabha member Sulata Deo told The Indian Express.

Patnaik, 77, who lost power for the first time after 24 years in the Assembly polls held simultaneously along with the Lok Sabha elections, is also the leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly. The regional party drew a blank in the recently held polls.

The decision to make Patnaik the Chairman will ensure his “active involvement” in Parliamentary politics and to “chart out” the party’s strategy for the Rajya Sabha on a regular basis.

Patnaik, at the meeting, asked his MPs to play the role of a “strong Opposition” and continue to “aggressively counter” the BJP-led Centre on issues of Odisha’s interest in the Parliament.

Festive offer

“Though the previous parliament session was for a few days, you all had seen how strongly the BJD opposed the Centre on different occasions. During the Motion of thanks on the President’s address discussion, BJD was the first party that staged a walkout during the PM’s reply, which was subsequently done by the INDIA alliance. It’s quite clear that BJD works as an aggressive, assertive, constructive and strong opposition party and will continue to do so,” BJD’s leader in Rajya Sabha Sasmit Patra told reporters after the meeting.

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On June 28, the BJD MPs staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha, supporting the INDIA alliance’s protest in the House over their demand for a discussion on alleged paper leaks and irregularities in examinations like NEET and NET.

Having earned the identity of being a “trusted informal ally” of the NDA government over the last 10 years supporting almost every major decision, the BJD changed its stance after the recent defeat in both the Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Odisha.

The shift in BJD’s strategy in the parliament came after the party realized that its “unconditional support” to the Modi government in the past 10 years on every issue harmed its identity of being a party that was formed to live up to the “regional aspirations”.

“Fighting against the successive Central governments over the issue of central neglect to Odisha always worked in our favour in the past. We have renewed our strategy,” said a BJD leader.

The senior BJD leader said the party will give a “befitting reply” to the BJP-led NDA government when it seeks its support in the Rajya Sabha.

Senior BJD Rajya Sabha member Debashish Samantaray said a major issue for the party for the Budget session is the “constant central neglect” to Odisha.

“Our demand for special category status to Odisha has not been considered. Issues like non-revision of coal royalty, poor state of highways in the state, meagre grant in railways sector and resolution of Mahanadi water dispute are also on our agenda,” said Samantaray.

Patnaik, during the meeting, also advised his MPs to fight against the declining funds transfers from Centre to Odisha under various central government programmes. He asked them to be the voice of 4.5 crore people of Odisha in the Parliament, said BJD sources.

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