Bhubaneswar: BJD president Naveen Patnaik Tuesday asked his party MPs to become the voice of Odisha in Parliament and fight for the rights of 4.5 crore people of the state.
The former Odisha Chief Minister said this while presiding over a meeting of BJD MPs ahead of the budget session of the Parliament.
The meeting was attended by all the seven BJD MPs in the Rajya Sabha, a statement issued by the party read.
In the meeting, Patnaik said each MP should fight for the rights and dignity of the 4.5 crore people of Odisha. He also asked them to take up the issue of special category status for Odisha as the most important issue, it said.
This apart, Patnaik told the MPs to raise issues like price rise, high unemployment & rising joblessness, farmers & farm distress, Polavaram project & Mahanadi water dispute, coal royalty, green tax on coal, national highway, coastal highway, health, tribal development, GST on Kendu leaves and connectivity in both rail and telecom, the statement said.
The BJD MPs also extend their gratitude and appreciation to Naveen Patnaik for his efforts that led to Odisha emerging as the number one state in fiscal management in India for the period 2022-23, according to Niti Aayog report.
The regional party has seven MPs in the Rajya Sabha, while it was thrown out of power in the last Lok Sabha elections.
PTI
