Bhubaneswar, Oct 16 (PTI) The opposition BJP and Congress in Odisha on Sunday raised questions over the timing of the BJD government's decision to regularise services of its contractual employees ahead of the November 3 bypoll to Dhamnagar assembly constituencies.

The saffron camp termed the move by the Naveen Patnaik-led dispensation as "pre-bypoll drama", while the Congress alleged that the government abolished the contractual hiring to secure votes for the ruling BJD.

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Leader of Opposition JN Mishra of the BJP said, "The BJD government used to take such decisions when there is an election. This is part of a pre-bypoll drama. The ruling party is facing difficulties in the election-bound Dhamnagar assembly segment."

Abolition of the contractual system is "nothing but a drama", he said.

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Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had on Saturday announced that services over 57,000 contractual employees would be regularised.

The decision, for which the state government will spend an additional Rs 1,300 crore per year, was taken at a Cabinet meeting.

Mishra alleged that the BJD government "had been trying to rectify the mistake it made since 2013 by appointing employees on a contractual basis".

Senior Congress leader and Jatani MLA Suresh Routray also raised a question over the timing of Patnaik's announcement.

"Why the government did not make such a decision earlier? It is now clear that the BJD dispensation has regularised services of contractural employees to get votes," he said.

Former Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Jayadev Jena alleged that it is "a trick played by the BJD to woo young voters and win the Dhamnagar by-election".

BJD MLA SB Behera denied the allegations and said it is unfortunate that the opposition parties have been trying to politicise the matter when 57,000 families across the state have welcomed the decision.

The government, earlier in the day, issued a notification to abolish the contractual recruitment system in the state.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)