Naveen Patnaik asks BJD MLAs to be punctual in Assembly

Ruling Biju Janata Dal president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday asked his party MLAs to remain present in the House during the Winter session of the state Assembly. Though the party did not impose any whip, Patnaik issued this direction while presiding over the BJD Legislature Party meeting ahead of the commencement of the winter session here on Wednesday.

The chief minister asked the government chief whip, Pramila Mallick, to send him a report on the daily attendance of party MLAs in the House at 11.30 am every day.

"A party MLA who wants to go on leave for two or more days will have to seek my permission", Patnaik told the BJD legislators. The BJD president also informed the party MLAs that he will review their performance in the House. "The members should actively participate in debates. I would be particularly watching the performance of first-time members," Patnaik said. The chief minister also asked the party MLAs to submit bi-monthly activity reports to him. "You all know that MPs are submitting bi-monthly activity report to me. Similarly, we would have a MLA reports submitted bi-monthly to me," he said.

The BJD president formed a four-member committee comprising senior members - Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Usha Devi, Amar Prasad Satpathy and Kishore Mohanty, to suggest and frame the reporting format and contents. In accordance with the state governments 5T (team work, transparency, technology, time leading to transformation) policy, Patnaik said the BJD MLAs should use technology.

Stating that he welcomes constructive criticism from the opposition members, Patnaik said the state government is ready for discussion on any issue to be raised by the opposition. He also suggested the MLAs to dedicate their full time for the welfare of the citizens and reiterated that the people of Odisha are their real masters "The mandate of Patkura and Bijepur by-election is again a reminder of how much faith people have in BJD. This makes all of us to work hard in a transparent and committed manner for the people of our state," Patnaik said.