Bhubaneswar: With the Orissa High Court
quashing the land acquisition proceedings for proposed Vedanta
University project near Puri, opposition parties Tuesday demanded Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's resignation, saying
the BJD government has lost all rights to continue.
"Naveen Patnaik should tender his resignation
immediately as he has no moral right to continue in office
even for a second following the High Court judgement,"
Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Bhupinder Singh said.
Describing the High Court judgement as a slap on the
face of BJD government, Singh, also a senior Congress leader,
said its directive for return of all land acquired for the
proposed university to the owners had vindicated the demand
made by his party all along.
Congress chief whip in Orissa Assembly, Prasad
Harichandan said the Naveen Patnaik government, which "flouted
laws and ignored Lok Pal's directive to favour Vedanta group",
should step down forthwith.
State BJP president Jual Oram also demanded Patnaik's
resignation, saying he must step down from the post on moral
ground as his office had been closely monitoring and
overseeing the proposed Vedanta university project directly.
Instead of serving the people of the state, BJD
government has been working as a tool of big companies, he
said accusing the government of selling the state's rich
resources to outsiders.
If Patnaik does not quit, people of the state would
definitely throw the BJD government out of power, Harichandan
and other senior leaders said.
Samajwadi Party urged Governor MC Bhandare to dismiss
Naveen Patnaik government following the High Court verdict.
"The BJD government has violated laws of the land to
protect the interest of Vedanta group," Samajwadi Party's
Orissa unit president Rabi Behera said in a letter to
Bhandare.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 21:56