Bhubaneswar: The opposition Biju Janata Dal on Tuesday raised the issue of Special Category Status for Odisha in the Assembly and sought the Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s response on it.
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the House, the BJD asked the Chief Minister to inform the Assembly whether he demanded ‘Special Category Status’ for Odisha at the recent NITI Aayog meeting in Delhi.
BJD MLA Arun Kumar Sahoo said the Chief Minister should inform the House whether he demanded the “Special Category Status or the Special Focus State tag or any special allocation of funds for Odisha” at the NITI Aayog meeting.
The senior BJD leader said that the BJP had promised Special Category Status for Odisha in its election manifesto in 2014. The chief minister should inform the House whether he made the same demand during the NITI Aayog meeting, Sahoo said.
The Congress also demanded that the Central government should provide Special Category Status to the state since the BJP formed the double engine government in Odisha.