Bhubaneswar, With Odisha mulling setting up a legislative council, a committee will soon leave for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar to make a detailed study about the formation and functioning of their upper houses of legislature, an official statement said on Tuesday.
The committee will study the functioning of the Legislative Councils in other states and submit a detailed report, said a release from the Chief Minister’s Office.
Earlier, the committee had visited Maharashtra and Karnataka to know the process of formation and functioning of Legislative Councils.
The state government had in 2015 formed the committee headed by Transport Minister Nrusingha Charan Sahu, which comprises the ruling BJD legislators Pramila Mallik and Manohar Randhari, Bhujabal Majhi of the Congress and Nitesh Gangdev of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The opposition Congress and BJP however said the move of the state government is to rehabilitate BJD leaders.
“The state government formed a committee in 2015 to study the formation and functioning of Legislative Council. But, it did not show any interest. Now, after three years, the government has taken interest in it,” said senior Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das.
BJP leader Golak Mohapatra said since there is growing resentment among the BJD leaders, the ruling party is trying to appease the party leaders ahead of 2019 elections.
