BHUBANESWAR: Senior BJP MLA from Bhawanipatna and former minister Pradipta Kumar Naik has been named as the leader of the BJP legislature party in the Odisha Legislative Assembly by national president Amit Shah.
The BJP being the principal opposition party in the Assembly, the appointment of Nayak as the Leader of Opposition is almost certain.
The BJP, which has won 23 seats in the 147-member House this time, has been eligible to be declared as the main opposition party.
The Leader of Opposition with the status of a Cabinet minister enjoys the status next to the Chief Minister, the leader of the House.
However, the position will be recognised by the Speaker of the OLA.
The Leader of the Opposition is accorded certain privileges including a separate room in the Assembly with Secretariat and other facilities.
It has been a practice that the Leader of Opposition is appointed as the chairman of Public Account Committee, one of the most important committees of the Assembly which scrutinises the use of finances granted to the Government.
The legislature party of the BJP met here on Sunday to elect its leader. The meeting, which was attended by Rajya Sabha member and former president of BJP Mahila Morcha Saroj Pande as central observer, is reported to have shortlisted two names including Sambalpur MLA Jayanarayan Mishra.
“As per the decision taken in the BJP legislature party meeting, BJP president announced the name of Pradipta Naik as the leader of party in the Assembly,” said national BJP secretary in-charge of Odisha Arun Singh.