A man cleans the statue of Biju Patnaik on the Assembly premises. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 20: The Pipili gangrape case, the hooch tragedy and the BJD win in the panchayat elections are likely to occupy centre stage in the budget session of the Assembly scheduled to commence from tomorrow.

The state government may face heat over the illicit liquor tragedy and the gangrape case as the two incidents had claimed scalps of excise minister A.U. Singhdeo and agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy, respectively.

The Congress and the BJP will spare no efforts to focus on the two incidents to embarrass the BJD. “We will raise issues of growing crimes against women in the state and circulation of spurious liquor and drugs,” said leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh.

The BJD will raise the Centre’s neglect of Odisha and the recent UPA move to vest overriding powers to the Intelligence Bureau without consulting the states.

An aggressive Naveen Patnaik had lodged Odisha’s protest against the controversial decision. “I had written to the Prime Minister on the issue and I am yet to get a response. Today, I have written to him once again,” said Naveen after chairing a meeting of party legislators this evening.

The treasury bench members would raise Odisha’s long-standing demands such as mineral royalty revision and imposition of mineral resources rent tax on iron ore, he said.

However, the Congress, the main Opposition party in the state, decided to continue its attack on the BJD for its “corruption and failures”. “We will raise the burning issues, various scams, deterioration in law and order situation and misutilisation of central funds,” said Congress chief whip Prasad Harichandan.

The BJP would also highlight the Pipili gangrape case, the spurious liquor tragedy and other corruption issues, said senior party leader Jayanarayan Mishra.

On the other hand, the BJD put up a brave front and resolved to effectively counter the Opposition attack. “We are certainly prepared to face discussion on any issue,” said parliamentary affairs minister Raghunath Mohanty.