All eyes were on Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik on the opening day of the budget session of the Odisha Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
Naveen appeared cheerful when he entered the Assembly but his mood shifted when he noticed Champua MLA Sanatan Mahakud. Naveen immediately reprimanded him at the entrance gate of the legislature for not attending the party’s meeting.
Naveen asked the MLA in Hindi why he did not turn up at the party’s legislature party meeting the day before. The Champua MLA Sanatan Mahakud, 67, was taken aback with Patnaik’s question. He cited health reasons for skipping the legislature meeting. “I was not well,” Mahakud said. Looking unconvinced, Naveen immediately shot back, “Are you leaning towards BJP?” and then proceeded to the floor of the Assembly.
On the other hand, Mahakud denied tilting towards the saffron party: “I am not going anywhere. I am with the BJD.”
On his reported meeting with Majhi recently, Mahakud said, “Mohan Majhi is the chief minister and therefore I meet him to ensure development in my region. He had visited Champua which is my constituency. There was a cake-cutting ceremony, after which he fed me a piece of cake. We should not read too much into it.”
The BJD is now too guarded about its MPs and MLAs after two sitting Rajya Sabha members — Mamata Mahanta and Sujeet Kumar — switched over to the BJP.
Senior BJP leader Jaynarayan Mishra said, “The BJD is on the verge of collapse. The party will not take much time to break into pieces.”
The budget session of the Odisha Legislative Assembly began here on Thursday with the customary governor’s address on the opening day. governor Hari Babu Kambhampati painted a rosy picture of Odisha’s socio-economic situation.
The governor said, “Reviving Odia Asmita (Odia Pride), conservation, protection and advancement of the State’s art, architecture, language, literature and culture as well as legacy are my government’s top priorities.”
He said how his government has decided to create an initial corpus fund of ₹200 crore for Odia Asmita to undertake specific interventions.
The governor spoke about how his government has set up a corpus fund of ₹500 crore fund for Jagananth Temple. He also talked about his government successfully organsing the Utkarsh Odisha Make in Odisha investment conclave, Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) and how its striving to achieve the goal of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikash and Vikshit Odisha by 2036. He also spoke about the successful implementation of Subhadra scheme for women and the increase in MSP for each quintal of paddy from ₹2300 to ₹3100.
