Bhubaneswar: The BJP Saturday appointed its four-time MLA Jaya Narayan Mishra as the new leader of opposition in the Odisha assembly.
Mishra, the legislator from Sambalpur, replaced Bhawanipatna MLA Pradipta Kumar Naik who is undergoing treatment in Delhi for post-COVID health complications.
Mishra’s name was supported by all members of the BJP legislative party, the party’s state in-charge Vijay Pal Singh Tomar said, addressing a press conference.
Mishra, considered a “hardliner” in the BJP, said his party’s mission is to make Odisha “BJD-free”.
“The BJP has a mission to make India Congress-free and Odisha BJD-free,” he said.
“The party has put trust in me. It is a major responsibility towards the people of Odisha to function as the leader of opposition. Our first aim is to make Odisha a BJD-free state,” he added
Mishra said he will try his level best to meet the aspiration of the people as the new leader of opposition.
“I will also try to expose the state government’s whimsical governance style,” he told reporters.
“I will become the voice of Odisha’s people in the assembly,” he asserted, promising to play the role of constructive opposition leader.
Mishra, a former minister in the BJD-BJP coalition government from 2000 to 2009, was elected to the assembly four times — 2000, 2004, 2009 and 2019.
Naik, the outgoing leader of opposition, is at present undergoing treatment in Delhi.
“Since state president Samir Mohanty comes from the coastal region, the LOP is appointed from the western parts of the state in order to balance the leadership,” a BJP leader said.
The BJP is better positioned in the western region than in the coastal or southern Odisha, he added.
BJP MLAs, including Sundargarh lawmaker Kusum Tete, have been expressing concern over the party’s functioning in the assembly without a leader of opposition who could be involved in day-to-day affairs. They recently visited Delhi and met party president JP Nadda, urging him to replace Naik.
Meanwhile, the BJD said that Mishra was daydreaming by becoming the new leader of opposition.
“There is no harm in daydreaming. Let him first handle his own assembly constituency. Only future will tell who will make Odisha and India ‘mukt’ of whom,” said government chief whip Pramila Mallick.
Senior Congress MLA Suresh Routray said that Mishra will be a good leader of opposition.
“But, I doubt that BJP will further grow in Odisha. Rather they will go further down,” he claimed.
PTI