Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Adhikar rally had its echo here. Cutting across party line, members in the State Assembly on Monday urged the Union Government to accord special status to Odisha as the ruling BJD members asked the Congress members to persuade their bosses at the Centre to get it in the interest of the people of the State.
However, the Treasury Bench members flayed the opposition Congress members for their suggestion to emulate Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to organise a massive Swambiman rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi to put pressure on the Union Government to accord the special category State status to Odisha.
During the Zero hour, senior Congress member Santosh Singh Saluja raised the issue referring to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Adhikar rally in Delhi. He said that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik should organize a similar rally at Ramalila Maidan invoking Odia pride to demand special State status. "We the Congress people would also join the Swaviman rally for the interest of Odisha shedding the petty party politics," Saluja maintained.
Since the UPA Government has already announced in the 2013-24 Budget that the existing criteria would be amended to enable more backward States to get the special category status for achieving all round development, Saluja urged the Chief Minister to announce that he would support any Government at the Center led by any party, which would accord special status to Odisha.
However, Saluja got flak from the Treasury Bench members for his unsolicited suggestion. Ruling party members Prafulla Chandra Ghadai, Amar Satapathy, Pravat Ranjan Biswal, Bed Prakash Agrawal and Prasanta Nanda said that it was the Congress party in Odisha which lacked Odia pride (Swaviman) to raise the issue of special status for Odisha before the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre. Saluja should refrain from giving advice the Chief Minister for achieving the demand of special status to the State, they said.
Stating that the issue of special category status to Odisha was in the manifesto of the BJD, Prasanta Nanda said that there was no mention of the issue in Congress election manifesto even in 2009. He said that Swaviman had been alien to Congress and wanted to know how many times the State Congress leaders raised the special category status for Odisha before their Central leaders and the Prime Minister.
Ghadai said that Odisha being a poor State had been fulfilling all the criteria except being a border State in the way to get special category. Since the Union Finance Minister had announced in the 2013-14 Budget to amend the criteria to give some backward States the special status for their development, Odisha would wait to see how the guidelines were being amended. However, he said Nitish Kumar should not be the model for Odisha in achieving the special category status. Since special category status is a justified demand and had been raised since the time of late Biju Patnaik, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been pursuing the issue in different forums with the successive Central Governments, Prime Ministers and Planning Commissions. "We would achieve our just demand in our own style and would not compromise our pride like Nitish Kumar," he said, adding there is no question of any political precondition for achieving the objective from the Union Government.
If the Union Government changed the guidelines for according special category status, then all the backward States, including Odisha, would be accorded special category status to remove the regional imbalance, he hoped.
Amar Prasad Satapathy said that the UPA Government at the Center has been showing step motherly attitude to Odisha in every sphere, including railway. Even, the Prime Minister instead of giving a Minister of cabinet rank from Odisha had acted otherwise converting a former Cabinet Minister to a Minister of state status. This is nothing but Congress way of giving special category status from downward. If the Congress members have any guts, they should demand the status before the Centre, he suggested.
Ranendra Pratap Swain said that the BJD has been fighting for the cause of special status for Odisha over a long time. If the Union Government has any sincerity, Prime Minister should form an Inter-Ministerial Group for Odisha as was done incase of Bihar to examine the demand. Besides, he demanded that there should be a special discussion in the House on the issue of special category and the Central neglect.
On the other hand, Congress member Naba Kishore Das said that Congress is not against special category status for Odisha. However, he took exception to the BJD's allegation of Central neglect. He sought to know form the BJD members to clarify why they did not do any thing to get the special status during the NDA rule at the Center, when BJD was an ally. BJP floor leader KV Singh Deo also extended his party's support to the demand for special status. He urged Chief Minister Patnaik to hold a massive rally at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi by involving all Odisha people and leaders, including the Odia diaspora living in Delhi. The Chief Minister also should address the meeting in Odia, he said.