Ruckus in Odisha assembly, two remaining Cong MLAs suspended for 7 days over 'indiscipline'

Bhubaneswar, Mar 26 (PTI) A day after 12 Congress MLAs were suspended from the Odisha Assembly, the Speaker on Wednesday debarred the remaining two party legislators for seven days for being indisciplined in the House, following ruckus and multiple adjournments of proceedings.

The BJD also staged three walkouts, condemning the suspension of all 14 Congress MLAs, and accused the ruling BJP of being intolerant to criticism by opposition members.

The party led by former chief minister Naveen Patnaik also slammed the ruling BJP for the alleged eviction of the 12 suspended Congress MLAs from the assembly on Tuesday night.

The two Congress MLAs - Taraprasad Bahinipati and Ramesh Jena - who were not suspended on Tuesday, entered the House and started beating gongs to protest against the suspension of 12 of their members, including CLP leader Rama Chandra Kadam.

They demanded the formation of a House Committee to inquire into the alleged rise in crime against women across the state.

Irked by the disturbance created by the two Congress members, government chief whip Saroj Kumar Pradhan moved a motion seeking their suspension, and the House adopted it through voice vote.

BJD MLAs demanded Speaker Surama Padhy's statement over the suspension of the 12 Congress legislators on Tuesday and boycotted the debate on the home department's demand, the reply to which was given by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.

Responding to the BJD's demand, Padhy justified her action against the “unruly” Congress members.

“Since the beginning of the second phase of the budget session on March 7, the Congress members had been protesting in the middle of the House, holding placards and posters. Since March 20, the Congress members had been protesting in the well of the House by wearing black dresses and even beating gongs and cymbals and blowing flutes. They obstructed the proceedings of the House. Such behaviour of members was violating the dignity of the House,” the Speaker said.

Justifying her action and eviction of suspended MLAs from the assembly, the Speaker said, “They should have left the assembly as soon as they were declared suspended. But they refused to vacate the House. I had ordered the assembly secretariat to make all arrangements for them. I also ordered the security personnel to protect the members.” Padhy said that she was informed late Tuesday night that the Congress MLAs, along with their supporters who were present on the assembly premises, had attacked the marshal and the security personnel in the verandah.

“After hearing about such incidents, I ordered the eviction of the Congress members from the House. The marshals and the security personnel took some MLAs out of the assembly premises while some of them came out of the assembly on their own,” Padhy said.

Bahinipati, one of the two Congress legislators who were not suspended on Tuesday, claimed that the 12 lawmakers were manhandled and evicted from the assembly in the dead of the night.

The Speaker also pointed out that due to the protest by the opposition, only two Question Hours could be conducted in the 12 working days of the second phase of the session.

Only eight questions were discussed, and there was no discussion for over 39 hours, she said.

"I had discussed with the opposition party members in all-party meetings four times. However, the opposition continued to be unruly in the House," Padhy said.

However, the Speaker’s statement failed to satisfy the opposition BJD members who staged a walkout, calling it a “one-sided” argument.

Earlier, the BJD members had alleged that the security personnel had also manhandled them and attempted to prevent them from going to Dr B R Ambedkar's statue at AG Chhak.

The assembly witnessed a ruckus since it began for the Question Hour at 10.30 am. The opposition BJD members raised the issue of reservation for STs, SCs and OBCs in education and jobs and walked out of the House.

However, BJD members joined the House after paying tribute to B R Ambedkar's statue and demanded a statement from the Speaker on the alleged ill-treatment of the Congress members who were staging an overnight dharna in the well of the House protesting their suspension.

Unable to run the House, Padhy adjourned the proceedings for 30 minutes and convened an all-party meeting to resolve the impasse in the assembly for seven days. Later, she adjourned the House three more times.

Senior BJD members Prasanna Acharya, Pramila Mallik, RP Swain, Arun Kumar Sahoo, Ganeswar Behera and many others criticised the Speaker’s suspension order against the 14 Congress MLAs.

Treasury bench members Tankadhar Tripathy, Om Prakash Mishra and others defended the government and the Speaker’s action. BJP MLA Padma Lochan Panda suggested to the Speaker that an all-party meeting be convened to ensure the smooth functioning of the House.

Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan, at a press conference on the Assembly premises, came down heavily on the Congress and alleged that there was a “conspiracy” by the party leadership in Delhi.

"The Congress MLAs are remotely controlled by their leadership in Delhi. There is no justification to make a demand for the formation of a House Committee over the alleged rise in crime against women. Such a committee is formed on the specific matter,” he said.

The minister also criticised the previous BJD government and cited several women atrocity cases in the last 24 years. PTI AAM BBM RBT RG AAM BDC

Source: PTI