BHUBANESWAR: Infighting in the BJD took the centrestage in the short Monsoon Session of Assembly which concluded on Saturday. With a divided Opposition failing to nail the State Government on major issues, it was BJD dissident leader Damodar Rout who embarrassed the ruling party in the House. Be it on the issue of the State Government ignoring the demands of the block grant teachers or Revenue Minister Surya Narayan Patro seeking favour from Union Minister Srikant Jena for flying out to the US on a first class ticket, it was Rout who put the Government on the mat. Several important issues, including the deteriorating law and order situation and alleged horsetrading during the last year’s Rajya Sabha polls could not be discussed because of lack of time. Though the Opposition Congress and BJP made a lot of hue and cry over the issues only on the last day of session, Speaker Pradip Amat disallowed any discussion because of pendency of several government Bills. The State Government had an easy time during the session as it did not come under any sustained attack from the Opposition on major issues. The issue of special reports given by the Lokpal was taken up. But the discussion was more of a general nature with only one or two members trying to raise the Vedanta land acquisition issue through it. The Speaker had directed that as the special report of the Lokpal submitted to the Governor on the Vedanta land acquisition issue on May 3 was yet to be tabled in the House, the members should avoid referring to it during the discussion. The slanging match between Rout and Patro overshadowed the session. The Opposition members derived vicarious pleasure from the heated exchanges. Brownie points were scored by warring BJD members during the session. The circulation of a paper having articles against Rout and the attempt by former minister Bishnu Charan Das to raise it in the House also reflected the infighting in the ruling party. The BJD also tried to browbeat the BJP members by raising corruption charges against its Legislature Party leader KV Singhdeo. However, the move backfired as Singhdeo dared the government to order a probe into the charges. Rift in the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) also came to the fore during the session. Differences of opinion between Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh and senior MLA Santosh Singh Saluja is well known. But the way in which it came to the fore because of the utterances of Saluja undermined the entire Opposition.
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