Bhubaneswar: BJD Supremo and Leader of Opposition today asked party MLAs to always remain vigilant and active to hold the BJP government accountable.
The BJD has organized an orientation and training programme for its newly elected first timer MLAs after the party boycotted the training programme organised by the Assembly on July 17 and 18.
“The training program organised by the assembly had a political connotation and didn’t give the adequate respect and dignity to the chief minister in his own state. So the BJD withdrew from the training program organised by the assembly,” Shri Patnaik said.
The orientation programme was organised for newly elected legislators to familiarise them with the rules of procedure and conduct of business in the Assembly.
Those rules have been framed not only for the smooth conduct of business of the House but more importantly to hold the government to account. Thus the MLAs need to be well versed with rules, procedures, parliamentary conventions, traditions, to discharge their duties as a legislator properly, he said.
Dr. B R Ambedkar while explaining in the Constituent Assembly the reasons why India preferred parliamentary form of government stated that in a parliamentary democracy government is accountable to the legislature while the presidential form of government is based on stability of the executive without making it answerable to the legislature, Shri Patnaik further said.
Shri Patnik said that accountability of the government to the legislature is exercised by asking questions, moving several motions such as adjournment and no-confidence motion, calling attention notice, special etc. These are part of the several other legislative devices which should be used effectively by all of the party MLA to hold the government to account.
“We need to understand how to function within several Committees of our Legislature which are called mini-Assemblies. There also we need to play a very crucial role in fine tuning the scrutiny of several Bills which are referred to those Committees,” he told the BJD MLAs.
Stating that BJD with 51 MLAs constitute a formidable opposition, the former CM appealed to his party legislators not to leave any stone unturned to use those devices for holding the government to account.
“Government in a democracy is of “We the People” and opposition also owes its mandate to “We the People”. Therefore, opposition is as important as the Government. To make the opposition more effective in holding the Government to account we need to be always vigilant and active, he said, adding, “Infact a vibrant opposition is the best protector of democracy. There should be no compromise in highlighting public issues.”
He asked the senior MLAs and former ministers to also guide the newcomers.