Bhubaneswar, Feb 16 (IANS) The opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is all set to corner the state government over key issues, including farmers’ distress, mining cess, corruption, and pollution, during the crucial Budget session of the Odisha Assembly beginning Tuesday.

Speaking at the BJD legislature party meeting held at the party’s headquarters here, BJD president and Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik on Monday called upon party MLAs to adopt a strong and strategic stand against the government and attempt to corner it over its failures on various fronts.

“While the current ‘double-engine’ Government remains busy with slogans and photo-ops, our farmers are spending freezing nights under the open sky at mandis, guarding their hard-earned harvest from dew and theft,” alleged Patnaik.

He said the BJD is the only party that stands with farmers and has been fighting against the anti-farmer attitude of the BJP-led state government. Farmers across the state, he added, are angry with the government over its anti-farmer stance.

Patnaik also referred to his earlier letter to the Chief Minister, highlighting illegal deductions (Katni Chhatni) in the Mandis, the 150 quintal ceiling on input subsidy, harassment and delays in payments beyond 48 hours at Mandies, distress sales, among other issues.

Calling upon party leaders to target the state government in the Assembly, Patnaik stated, “In the coming Assembly Session, we will not let the Government hide behind rhetoric. Our strategy must be clinical and relentless. We will use every parliamentary tool—questions, walkouts, and demonstrations on the floor—to ensure the Government answers for its failures. If the voice of the farmer is not heard in the Mandi, it will roar in the Assembly.”

LoP Patnaik also instructed BJD MLAs to raise the issue of the completely collapsed law-and-order situation in the state, the government’s failure to fully utilise budgetary allocations, and unresolved Mahanadi water dispute issues during the Budget session of the Assembly.

–IANS

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