Patnaik asks for daily attendance report of BJD MLAs during

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday asked all BJD MLAs to attend the assembly session religiously and called for a daily report of their attendance.

Though the party did not impose any whip, Patnaik issued the direction while presiding over the ruling BJD Legislature Party meeting ahead of the commencement of the winter session here Wednesday.

The chief minister asked the government chief whip, Pramila Mallick, to send him attendance report of the party MLAs in the House at 11.30 am every day.

"A party MLA who wants to go on leave for two or more days will have to seek my permission", Patnaik told the Biju Janata Dal legislators.

The winter session of the Odisha assembly began on Wednesday and it will end on December 19.

It has been observed that the CM attends question hour during assembly sessions without failure but as soon as he leaves the house, the attendance of the BJD MLAs becomes thin.

In the 147-members Odisha assembly, BJD has 113 MLAs followed by BJP 23, Congress 9, CPM 1 and an Independent.

After massive win of BJD in the state polls this year, Patnaik became chief minister of Odisha for the fifth time continously since 2000.

The BJD president also informed the party MLAs that he will review their performance in the house.

"The members should actively participate in debates. I would be particularly watching the performance of first-time members," Patnaik said.

The chief minister also asked the party MLAs to submit bi-monthly activity report to him. "You all know that MPs are submitting bi-monthly activity report to me. Similarly, we would have MLAs report submitted bi-monthly to me," he said.

The BJD president formed a four-member committee comprising senior members - Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Usha Devi, Amar Prasad Satpathy and Kishore Mohanty, to suggest and frame the reporting format and contents.

In accordance with the state governments 5Ts (team work, transparency, technology, time leading to transformation) policy, Patnaik said the BJD MLAs should use technology.

Stating that he welcomes constructive criticism from the opposition members, Patnaik said the state government is ready for discussion on any issue to be raised by the opposition.

He also suggested the MLAs to dedicate their time for the welfare of the citizens and reiterated that the people of Odisha are their real masters

"The mandate of Patkura and Bijepur by-election is again a reminder of how much faith people have in BJD. This makes all of us to work hard in a transparent and committed manner for the people of our state," Patnaik said.