BJD backs Opposition against govt, YSR Cong slams Oppn for disrupting Modi’s speech

New Delhi: Two unaligned and key regional parties charted separate political paths in Parliament’s first session in the Modi government’s third term as the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) joined the Opposition in targeting the treasury benches, while the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) kept away from such protests and remained sympathetic to the Centre.

Both the parties have suffered serious setbacks in the recent Lok Sabha polls and lost power in their respective states, where Assembly elections were held simultaneously. Both had supported the ruling BJP on key legislative matters in Parliament during its previous term at the Centre. The Andhra Pradesh-based YSRCP and Odisha’s BJD continue to have a sizeable presence in the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP-led NDA does not have a majority, and their stand on issues can tilt the balance of power. BJD leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra led his party colleagues on Wednesday in walking out of the Rajya Sabha, along with the Opposition parties, during Prime Minister Modi’s reply to the Motion of Thanks on the president’s address to a joint sitting of Parliament. Patra said neither President Droupadi Murmu’s address nor Modi’s reply had any mention of his party’s longstanding demand for special category status for Odisha.

He added that there was also no reflection of his party’s demand for an increase in coal royalty, and highway, railway and telecom presence in the eastern state, where the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD was in power for 24 years, before losing it to the BJP recently. It was just another, same routine reply from the Prime Minister, counting the same,” Patra said after the walkout.