Parliament. Telegraph picture

New Delhi, Sept. 6: Lok Sabha today passed two amendments made by Rajya Sabha providing for changes in the names of Orissa to Odisha and its language from Oriya to Odia.

The Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010, to change the name of the state and the Constitution (113th Amendment) Bill, 2010, to change the name of the language, had been passed by the Lok Sabha on November 9, 2010, but came back again today because of technical reasons. The original Bill was of 2009 and Lok Sabha had passed it in 2010 without amending the year. Rajya Sabha passed the Bill with the necessary amendments on March 24, 2010. The Bill was reverted to the Lok Sabha to pass these two amendments.

The two Bills with amendments — relating to change of name of the state and language — were taken up during the post-noon session and passed by voting through division as it related to Constitutional amendment.

The change of the state’s name and language will happen only after the President gives her assent to the Bills.

Interestingly, not many Biju Janata Dal (BJD) members were spotted in the House when the Bills were taken up. When contacted, BJD member Prasanna Kumar Patasani, who was present, acknowledged that all party MPs were not present. “Maybe they were not informed that the Bills would be taken up today,” he said.

Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, who was not present, however, claimed only three of their MPs were missing because of pressing personal reasons. He also pointed out that the Bills were scheduled to be taken up during the post-lunch session but came up early.

“I had to attend the rituals of my mother’s death anniversary. In spite of this I reached Parliament around 1pm and learnt that the discussion on the Bills was over,” he said. Mahtab said some other MPs could not attend because of illness of their close family members. “Our leader Arjun Charan Sethi is in hospital,” he said.

Mahtab had, during a session last year, moved an amendment on the name change of the state and had recommended Odisha be written as Odissa that had sparked a controversy. But as other Assembly members had accepted “Odisha” as the spelling during the November 9, 2010 session, he had not persisted further.

Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day after passage of the Bills. Sources said the BJP allowed the passage of the Bills as the BJD was backing it over the Gujarat’s Lokayukta case. The BJP is not allowing Parliament to function over appointment of the Gujarat Lokayukta without consulting chief minister Narendra Modi.