Despite the absence of the Opposition Congress and BJP members, the committee formed by the State Government to study the modalities for the proposed legislative Council held its first meeting here on Monday.
The panel headed by Nursingha Sahoo of BJD, also attended by two other members ruling party MlAs Pramila Mallick and Manohar Randfhari and decided to set out on a three-day visit to Maharashtra and Karnataka from January 31.
"The committee will tour to Karnataka and Maharashtra for three days on January 31 to study the functioning of such councils in both the States there and collect related data," said Sahoo, adding that it will continue with its work even without BJP and Congress representatives.
leader of Opposition in the Assembly Narasingha Mishra said they will put their views when the Bill will be introduced in the Assembly.
The Government had formed a five-member committee comprising Nursinhga Sahu, Pramila Mallik, Manohar Randhari of BJD, Bhujabal Majhi of Congress and Nitesh Gangdev of BJP to study modalities for setting up of the Council in the State.
However, both the Opposition parties rejected the idea of the Government and denied to be part of the committee citing the Government has not consulted with them either at the time of formation of the committee or Council formation proposal idea.