Congress may lose opposition status in Odisha Assembly

Bhubaneswar: With two back-to-back resignations of legislators, the Congress is facing the threat of losing its status as the main opposition party in the Odisha Assembly.

The party currently has 13 members in the 147-member House, two less than the required strength.

According to rules, a party needs to have at least 10 per cent of the total seats in the House to be considered as the main opposition.

Jharsuguda MLA Naba Kishore Das, who joined the BijuJanata Dal (BJD) on January 24 after quitting the Congress, formally resigned from the Assembly on Monday. Speaker PK Amat has accepted his resignation.

“As I have joined the BJD, I have no moral rights to continue as a Congress MLA,” Mr Das told reporters.

Last week, Sundergarh MLA Jogesh Singh had also resigned from the Assembly, after being

suspended from the Congress for alleged anti-party activities.

In November last year, Koraput MLA Krushna Chandra Sagaria had also resigned as a Congress MLA.

Around the same time, George Tirkey, the lone legislator of the SamataKranti Dal, had joined the party.

The grand old party had faced a jolt last year when three-time MLA SubalSahu passed away in August. His wife Rita Sahu won the seat in the subsequent bypoll on a BJD ticket.

Altogether, 16 Congress MLAs were elected to the Assembly after the 2014 polls, but the party, at present, is left with just 13 legislators.

The House is scheduled to meet for its budget session on February 4, where the Speaker is likely to take a call on the status of the party.