Assembly witnesses repeated adjournments on 3rd day

Bhubaneswar : The Odisha Assembly continued to witness repeated adjournments on Wednesday again following a ruckus on the third day of the budget session. The Opposition BJD staged a walkout over the State government’s inaction in the case related to the alleged assault on an Assistant Section Officer (ASO) by Governor Raghubar Das’s son. The Congress members also disrupted the House over the neglect of Odisha in the Union Budget presented in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Speaker Surama Padhy first adjourned the Assembly for about an hour following the pandemonium in the House. But when the House reassembled again at 11.30 am, the disruption continued so Padhy adjourned the house till 12 pm again. The all-party meeting called by the Speaker to discuss with the ruling and Opposition members to end the impasse also did not yield any result. So, the Assembly was later adjourned till 4 pm by the Speaker as the ruckus continued to rock the House.

The BJD also announced that the party will boycott the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on Governor’s Address. However, it will take part in the proceedings of the Housefor the election of the Deputy Speaker.Speaking to mediapersons, BJD leader Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo said the State government seems disinterested in running the House by ending the impasse.

“The government is not calling a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee to resolve the impasse in the House. This shows that the government is neither interested in running the House nor in addressing the issue related to the Governor, so we staged a walkout,” the BJD leader said.He further said the party will carry out the constitutional duty by participating in the election of the Deputy Speaker.

The Congress also protested in the Assembly on Wednesday, alleging that Odisha was neglected in the Union Budget. The party targeted the ruling party, raising the Union government’s stand on the Polavaram dam project in Andhra Pradesh which will affect large parts of Malkangiri district.

On Tuesday too, the proceedings of the Assembly were disrupted as the House witnessed a ruckusover the demand of BJD and Congress for action against the Governor’s son for allegedly assaulting a government official earlier this month.

The treasury bench said the Opposition disturbed the Governor during his address on Monday and it is a punishable offence.While the House remained adjourned due to a din twice till 4 pm, the situation escalated in the afternoon when BJD member Dhruba Sahoo attempted to climb the Speaker’s podium.The angry lawmaker broke the mike on the Speaker’s desk before he was brought down by other members.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Mahaling in the afternoon session saidit is a punishable offence to create disturbance during the Governor’s address in the Assembly, which was witnessed on Monday.

He said both the Opposition Leader and the members should be punished for creating disturbance.

Outside the House, Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Suryabanshi Suraj also made a similar statement. The BJD member and former minister Arun Kumar Sahoo, however, rejected Mahaling’s assertion.

“It is laughable to demand punishment for the Leader of the Opposition and Opposition members. None have so far been punished anywhere for such protest in the past,” he said.