With the Odisha Legislative Assembly’s monsoon session set to open on Tuesday, the ruling BJP Legislature Party held a strategy meeting on Monday evening and said it would place “complete facts and evidence” before the House against what it called misleading narratives by the Opposition.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Mukesh Mahaling said the government’s first duty was to keep accurate information before the people of the state. “Keeping the correct facts before the people of Odisha is our responsibility,” he said after the meeting. “Whatever issues the Opposition raises, we are ready to discuss them. At the same time, we will present the full facts and proof in the House against the misleading ideas being created in the public mind.”
The seventh session of the 17th Assembly will run from September 22 to October 3. Party leaders used Monday’s closed-door meeting to fine-tune their approach for the sitting, which is expected to feature both official business and sharp political debate.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi attended the meeting along with Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal, state general secretary (organisation) Manas Kumar Mohanty, and BJP state in-charge Vijay Pal Singh Tomar. All ministers and MLAs of the ruling party were also present and took part in a detailed discussion on strategy for the session.
The message from the ruling benches was two-fold: no issue raised by the Opposition would be ducked, and the government would answer with records rather than rhetoric. Mahaling said the party would not allow incomplete or distorted claims to go unchallenged on the floor of the House.
The monsoon sitting is a short but politically charged window. Opposition parties are expected to press the government on several state issues. BJP leaders, after Monday’s meeting, presented themselves as prepared for that contest and determined to keep the debate anchored in official data.
The Assembly reconvenes on Tuesday.
