Naveen Patnaik, a former chief minister of Odisha and now leader of the opposition in the state, has formed a shadow cabinet to scrutinise and challenge the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its Chief Minister Mohan Majhi, ahead of the state assembly’s budget session due to begin next Monday.
The 50-member British-style shadow cabinet reflects the early experiences of Patnaik, who spent most of his life in Britain before entering politics.
Members of the Shadow Cabinet, mostly former Cabinet Ministers, are expected to oversee ministers and departments and prepare alternative plans and policies in areas where the government may fail.
“The Opposition is there to protect the interest of the people. The Opposition has an important role to play in the state legislature.”
“State legislators will closely monitor the activities of their departments and actively participate in discussions on those departments in the state assembly. They will work to safeguard the interest of the people,” Patnaik said in a statement issued by the BJD on Wednesday.
The former chief minister’s move not only underlines the active role he plans to play from the opposition benches but also dispels the notion among many that the Biju Janata Dal would now be politically irrelevant.
In the recently held elections, the BJD lost power for the first time in 24 years. The BJP won 78 of the 147 seats, defeating the Naveen Patnaik government. The BJD won 51 seats.
A few days later, the BJD showed it was serious when Patnaik was elected leader of the opposition in the state assembly.
The party, which is an ally of the BJP in India’s upper house, said its lawmakers would not just speak out on the issues but would also stage protests if the BJP-led central government “ignored the interests of Odisha”.
The party has already taken sides with the opposition on the NEET issue and has even staged a walkout in Parliament.
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