BJD, Opposition stall Odisha Assembly on Day Two

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Aug 19, 2015 at 12:44 PM Updated On : Aug 19, 2015 at 12:46 PM

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Aug 19:

Pandemonium broke out almost as soon as the proceedings of the Odisha Assembly began today with slogan shouting ruling BJD and Opposition Congress and BJP members rushing to the well of the House showing placards. The House could run for no more than two minutes before the Speaker was forced to adjourn the House first till 12.30 PM and then till 3 pm.

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As soon as the question hour session began, senior Congress member and leader of the Opposition Narasingh Mishra demanded the Chief Minister’s resignation saying he had no moral right to continue after the Supreme Court rejected the appeal of the state government against the High Court verdict exonerating former DGP Prakash Mishra in the vigilance case filed against him and passing severe strictures against the Vigilance.

Trouble started after Speaker Niranjan Pujari refused to allow the Opposition leader to discuss the issue during question hour.

Protesting the ruling of the Speaker, irate Congress members, led by party chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati, rushed to the well of the house showing placards and demanding a discussion on Prakash Mishra.

As if on cue, treasury bench members rushed to the well of the House protesting Central apathy towards Odisha.

As uproarious scene continued to prevail, the Speaker adjourned the House till 12.30 PM.

The BJD members later staged a sit-in dharna under the statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside the Assembly premises protesting Central apathy.

Earlier, the Speaker had admitted an adjjournment motion notice served by BJP members on the Nabakalebara fiasco and directed Law minister Arun Sahu to furnish a reply.

Alleging that the ruling BJD members have deliberately stalled the House proceedings, Congress member Naba Das said the ruling members had deliberately disrupted the House as they did not want to discuss the issues of Prakash Mishra and Nabakalebara bungling.

“We are ready to discuss Central apathy in the House. The ruling BJD members should have put forth their demands to the Speaker. Instead of doing this, they stalled the House proceedings only to avoid discussion on the demands of the Opposition members,” Das said.

BJP memberPradipPurohit said theBJD members had planned to disrupt the House. “They had come to the House with over 50 banners on Central apathy towardsOdisha which they displayed in the well of the House. This was improper for the ruling members to put forth their demands in the House,” he added.Countering the opposition allegation, BJD member Sanjay Das Burma said the Centre had been neglecting Odisha since last 15 years. “The manner in which prime minister Narendra Modi had announced Rs 1.35 lakh crore package to Bihar clearly shows the Central apathy towards our state. The time has come to stage a statewide agitation on the issue,” he pointed out.