Bhubaneswar: A delegation of Odisha assembly headed by Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha called on President Draupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Wednesday.
As many as 24 MLAs including the Speaker, parliamentary affairs and finance minister Niranjan Pujari, revenue minister Pramila Mallick, government chief whip Prasant Muduli and BJP chief whip Mohan Majhi met Murmu, who hails from Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.
“The all-party committee of the Odisha assembly met the President today. It was the happiest moment for all of us. We have handed over her the resolution paper, which was passed earlier in the assembly thanking her,” said Arukha after meeting the President in New Delhi.
On behalf of the Odisha assembly, the delegation congratulated and felicitated Murmu. The President has thanked the people of Odisha and assured to extend necessary support for the development of Odisha, under the purview constitutional provisions, said the Speaker.
Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati said he has presented a Kotpad handloom saree. Murmu thanked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for supporting her in the Presidential election.
BJP legislator Bishnupada Sethi said he has presented his own written poem on Murmu’s journey from Rairangpur town of Odisha to Raisina hill. “She (Murmu) asked me to read out the first and last stanza of the poem,” he said.
The MLAs spent a quality time in the Rashtrapati Bhavan visiting various halls, galleries and Mughal Gardens. They have also clicked a group picture with the President.
Odisha assembly had passed a unanimous resolution on July 25 congratulating Draupadi Murmu for assuming the top constitutional post of the country.
Murmu, a tribal leader from Odisha, was twice elected to the Odisha assembly in 2000 and 2004, and was a minister in Naveen Patnaik’s cabinet in the BJD-BJP alliance government.
Ms Kalinga