Odisha Assembly adjourned till 4 pm amid Opposition ruckus

Bhubaneswar : Pandemonium continued to prevail on the third day of the monsoon session of the Odisha Assembly forcing Speaker Pramila Mallik to adjourn the House till 4 p.m on Tuesday.

Soon after the House met for the day, the Opposition parties indulged in sloganeering alleging rejection of questions on vital issues raised by party MLAs. While the BJP members protested wearing black bands in the House, the ruling party members countered the opposition by raising the issue of MSP.

Speaker Pramila Mallik adjourned the proceedings of the House till 12 p.m. and called an all-party meeting to hold discussions for the smooth functioning of the Assembly, but to no avail. The members engaged in ruckus when the House commenced again. It was later adjourned till 4 p.m. by the Speaker.

"Government is responsible for the washing away of the question hour. The question hour is in the interest of people of the state. Different organisations are staging protests at the lower PMG square over various important issues. Yesterday, many questions raised by the MLAs were rejected and today is no different. The state government is filtering the questions as per their convenience,” said BJP's Dhamnagar MLA, Suryabanshi Suraj.

BJP also accused that Congress party is trying to divert the issues by bringing a motion on another issue. Meanwhile, Congress leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati refuted the allegations made by the BJP party.

"It is a very unfortunate incident. The opposition plays a significant role in the smooth functioning of the Assembly. The main opposition party members stalled the House again today. Question hour is the most important part of the proceedings where various problems of people from across the state are discussed through question and answer. They are stalling the House deliberately," said Prasanta Kumar Muduli, government chief whip.