**Bhubaneswar:** While pandemonium continued to disrupt Winter Session of the State Assembly for the second consecutive day, Speaker Pradip Amat convened a meeting of the House Committee on Minimum Support Price (MSP) on Wednesday, perhaps in a bid to resolve the deadlock.
Though Amat had sent a demi-official (DO) letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an appointment to discuss the issue of MSP, the PMO is yet to respond. The Speaker had sent the DO letter on November 17 and urged the PMO to respond before November 25.
In his reactions after the meeting, BJP Legislature Party leader KV Singhdeo told media, “The Prime Minster is occupied with Gujarat Assembly election campaigns, besides a string of foreign visits lined up in his itinerary. Since the Speaker has dispatched a DO letter, protocol-wise the PM would personally respond to it.”
Referring to a discussion during the meeting, Singhdeo said, the PMO had suggested the House Committee to meet the Union Agriculture Minister with their grievances.
On the contrary, Government Chief Whip Amar Prasad Satpathy said, despite three reminders from the Speaker over the MSP issue, there has been no communication from the PMO’s end. “Since the MSP resolution was unanimously passed in the Assembly, it is for the House Committee and the Speaker to decide how to take up the issue with Centre.”
As the deadlock over MSP and farmer issues continues to mar the house proceedings, the matter is expected to crop up on the third day of the ongoing session.
