BHUBANESWAR: Four time MLA from Sambalpur and former minister Jayanarayan Mishra was on Saturday elected as leader of the BJP Legislature Party in the Odisha Assembly in place of Pradipta Kumar Naik. He will now be the Leader of Opposition in the House replacing Naik, who continues to be indisposed battling post-Covid complications since over a year.
Mishra’s election was announced by the party’s Odisha co-in-charge Vijay Pal Singh Tomar after a meeting of the legislature party meeting at the state headquarters here. A formal recognition of Mishra as LoP is, however, required from the Speaker of the Assembly as the BJP is the principal Opposition in the House.
“The BJP Parliamentary Board approved the name of Mishra after Naik resigned from the post on health grounds. Party chief whip in Odisha Assembly Mohan Majhi proposed his name and it was unanimously accepted by all the BJP MLAs,” Singh told a media conference.
Describing Mishra as strong leader, Singh said, “The former minister had proved his leadership quality by raising many important issues both inside and outside the Assembly in forceful manner. He will do justice to his new assignment.”
On his election as the leader of legislature party, Jaya said that the BJP will act as a constructive opposition. “I thank the party for putting faith me and giving me such an important responsibility. I will truthfully discharge my responsibility. As the Leader of the Opposition I will raise the voice of Odisha in the Assembly,” Mishra said.
Asked if the shadow boxing between the BJP and BJD will continue, Mishra said the BJP believes in a straight fight. The BJP will free the State from BJD misrule and the time has come.“The BJD has been winning elections through rigging, booth capturing and misusing administrative apparatus. The same situation will not last long and a change is inevitable,” he asserted.
The BJP MLAs had broached matter for a change of the leader of the BJP Legislature Party before the start of the monsoon session with party’s national president JP Nadda during their recent visit to Delhi.
With Naik as Leader of Opposition being out of action for a long time and undergoing treatment for post-Covid related complications at a private hospital in Delhi, the BJP has been facing many difficulties in legislative issues.
He, however, attended the monsoon session of the Assembly in September last year virtually from AIIMS hospital and was taken to the Parliament on a wheel-chair to cast his vote during the recent Presidential election.