Naveen becomes a back-bencher

BHUBANESWAR: For a change, after his party meeting in a tent yesterday, Naveen Patnaik on Friday became a back-bencher in the Assembly. In a departure from practice, the Chief Minister sat alone behind the treasury bench in the Assembly because of his leg injury. And his usual front row seat as Leader of the House remained empty. The Assembly made special sitting arrangement for Naveen in view of his leg injury. The Assembly Secretariat had earlier received a letter from the Chief Minister’s office (CMO) requesting for making special arrangement for him. Accompanied by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty and government chief whip Rabi Narayan Pani, the Chief Minister entered the House clutching a stick. He was seated behind the last row where BJD members, including the newly elected Umerkote MLA Subhas Gond sat. “What can I do, I am unable to climb the stairs. The doctors have advised me rest,” Naveen told reporters outside the House.  Naveen is incidentally the first Chief Minister and Leader of the House in the history of Assembly who occupied a separate seat at the back of the treasury bench. The Chief Minister, who sustained an injury on his right leg due to a fall at his residence on November 17, had also presided over the BJDLP meeting at a tent inside the Assembly premises on Thursday evening.  “As the Chief Minister was unable to climb stairs, a temporary tent was erected for meeting,” Mohanty said.