The general perception that the BJP and the BJD have entered into an unwritten pact of camaraderie after the last elections gained ground during the just-ended State Assembly session.
Even though the Congress has been pushed to the second Opposition force with just nine members in the 16th State Assembly, losing its earlier main Opposition status to the BJP now having 23 members, it virtually played the role of the main Opposition in the first session of the legislature that concluded on Saturday.
During the two phases of the session, though Leader of Opposition Pradipta Kumar Naik was always called first by the Speaker and given priority to participate in all debates in the House, it was Congress Legislature Party Leader Narasingha Mishra who really raised debatable people-centric issues more effectively.
It was always seen that Mishra, who was Leader of Opposition in the 15th Assembly, was never asked by the Chair to complete his statement as he asked other members, excepting the Leader of Opposition and the Ministers, in the House.
Be it minor girl rape incidents or murder case at the Patnaikia chhack or farmer suicide cases or the issue of tardy funding to the Western Odisha Development Council, it was all raised by Mishra.
Three senior members, Suresh Kumar Routray, Tara Prasad Bahinipati and Santosh Singh Saluja, were vociferous enough to put pressure on the Speaker to give ruling on Mishra’s demand. The House was stalled many times on the issues raised by Mishra.
Even the Speaker asked the Chief Minister twice to submit statements in the House, once on the Patnaikia triple murder case and then on a minor rape case.
Mishra also raised issues of minimum support price and inter-State Water Tribunal, which was supported by the BJD, against the BJP-led Union Government.
On the other hand, Leader of Opposition Pradipta Naik and other BJP members raised comparatively less important issues like irregularities in appointments in some Government posts, negligence meted out to BPL patients in private hospitals in Bhubaneswar and some other local issues. Even though they supported the Congress in the gangrape and law and order issues, they didn’t protest strongly enough.