With current leader of opposition (LoP) Pradipta Naik out of action for over a year, several BJP leaders are urging their party leaders to look for a new leader of opposition in place of the former.
Naik has been battling post-Covid complications for nearly 14 months.
Naik, 55, representing Bhawanipatna assembly constituency of Kalahandi district had tested positive for Covid on April 19 last year and was admitted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar the next day. Soon after his condition deteriorated, he was shifted to the ICU six days later. He was also put on ECMO.
Following doctors’ advice at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, he was shifted to Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon in November last year as he continued to battle post-Covid complications.
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In September last year, Naik participated in the Assembly session virtually from the guesthouse of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar.
Keeping all of this in mind, the BJP MLAs want a new leader to be elected ahead of the Budget session beginning July 2.
{{/usCountry}}Keeping all of this in mind, the BJP MLAs want a new leader to be elected ahead of the Budget session beginning July 2.
{{/usCountry}}Around 15 legislators who had been to New Delhi for the filing of nomination by NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu raised the matter with national president JP Nadda.
BJP MLA from Sundargarh, Kusum Tete, who was among the MLAs seeking election of a new LoP said without a regular leader it was getting difficult for the party to raise relevant issues.
“BJP is not getting due importance in the Assembly as we don’t have a Leader of Opposition, who apart from the chief minister can raise any issue without giving any notice to the Speaker. In all-party meetings, the LoP’s views are taken seriously. As there is no LoP, Congress has snatched the opposition space though we are the main opposition party,” said Tete.
Ahead of the session, Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha has called an all-party meeting on June 29.
Similarly, Baripada MLA Prakash Soren admitted the absence of LoP from Assembly has affected the morale of the legislative party. “Due to absence of LoP, we have not been able to put the government in a dock over several issues including its mismanagement of Covid last year. We have taken up the matter with the state president. Hopefully we will get a new leader soon,” said Soren.
A couple of other BJP MLAs said as Naik would take more time to recuperate, a new LoP was necessary. “The current Assembly has run half its course. As it is the party that has suffered electoral reverses in panchayat, civic and assembly bypoll this year. We have to stop the slide and a new LoP could mark the beginning of our revival,” said a BJP MLA from western Odisha, who wished to not be named.
BJP has 22 MLAs in the Odisha Legislative Assembly out of the total 147 members.
People close to Naik said he was shifted from Medanta Hospital couple of months ago to a guest house next to it where his condition is being monitored by a team of doctors regularly.
“He is still unable to speak coherently. The alveolar tissues in his lungs had hardened and that made him weak. He is now undergoing physiotherapy regularly. He would take at least 2-3 months to make a good recovery,” his private secretary Prasanna Kumar Sarangi said.