The committee formed by the Odisha Government to study the functioning of the legislative Councils in other States would soon visit Andhra Pradesh and Bihar for the purpose. A proposal in this regard has been approved by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, a release of the Chief Minister’s Office said on Tuesday.
The committee would submit a report after its visit to the two States. It had also visited Maharashtra and Karnataka in 2015 to learn about the way of formation and functioning of the legislative Councils there.
“Earlier, we had visited Maharashtra and Karnataka where legislative Councils had been formed before legislative Assemblies. This time, we will visit Andhra Pradesh and Bihar where legislative Assemblies were formed before legislative Councils, which is similar to the case of Odisha,” said Transport Minister Nrusingha Charan Sahu, who heads the committee.
Notably, the State Government had in 2015 formed the committee headed by Sahu. It has two other members from the ruling BJD, Pramila Mallik and Manohar Randhari; and two Opposition members, Bhujabal Majhi and Nitesh Gangdev of the Congress and BJP, respectively.
With the latest development, possibility of formation of a legislative Council in the State has gained political momentum ahead of the 2019 elections.
According to political circles, the move has been revived after three long years to satisfy a section of BJD leaders who would be deprived of getting party tickets to contest Assembly polls.