Odisha Assembly witnessed chaos on Monday

Bureau,Odishabarta

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Assembly witnessed chaos on Monday as Opposition Congress MLAs carrying placards climbed up the Speaker’s podium and BJP legislators trooped into the well of the House, demanding the removal of Minister Dibya Shankar Mishra in connection with the murder of lady teacher Mamita Meher. As soon as the House assembled for Question Hour, the Congress members occupied the Speaker’s podium shouting slogans demanding the Minister’s resignation.

At the same time, the BJP members trooped into the well of the House, leading to chaos.

In the midst of it, legislators of the ruling BJD got up from their seats putting on masks of freedom fighter Jayi Rajguru and protested the Centre’s “refusal” to recognise “Paika Bidroha” (1817) as the First War of Independence.

What irked the Opposition members was that D S Mishra, Minister of State for Home, on behalf of the Chief Minister, who is in charge of the Home department, replied to a written question of BJP whip Mohan Majhi on Mamita murder case.

Majhi had sought to know from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to name the VIPs and their motive who used to visit Mahaling College in Kalahandi district till a month before the murder. He also asked the Chief Minister to name the persons who used to spend nights at the college and their links with the murder. “The case is sub judice. On Odisha Government’s request, the High Court has nominated former district judge, A B S Naidu, to monitor the investigation into the case,” D S Mishra said in the written reply.

Amid the chaos, Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro adjourned the proceedings till 4 pm. When the House reassembled, the Assembly was again adjourned for 30 minutes as the Speaker convened an all-party meeting to break the deadlock.

However, the issue could not be resolved as both the Opposition and the treasury bench members remained adamant on their stands. When asked about the outcome of the meeting, the Speaker told reporters, “Ask the leaders who joined the all-party meeting.” While the Opposition BJP and Congress stuck to their demands of sacking the Minister and handing over the case to CBI, the treasury bench members did not accept it.

Even as the Assembly session began on December 1, the House could transact business only for less than an hour, including obituary references and presentation of the supplementary budget. Immediately after the adjournment, the ruling BJD members sat on a dharna near Mahatma Gandhi statue on the Assembly premises, protesting against the Centre’s apathy to accord the status of the First War of Independence to “Paika Bidroha.”

The BJP members marched to the Post Master General’s Office and dropped a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, urging him to attend the Assembly. They expressed concern as Naveen had not attended Assembly proceedings in the last one and a half years though he toured the districts despite the pandemic and attended hockey programmes in Kalinga Stadium. The BJP MLAs also raised questions on Naveen’s recent video statement, in which he alleged that the Opposition parties have politicised Mamita Meher’s murder.

While the BJP is demanding a CBI probe into the incident, Congress is in favour of a probe by a High Court-monitored special investigation team (SIT). In a video statement, Naveen Patnaik had on Friday appealed to the Opposition to cooperate and ensure smooth functioning of the House, which has been witnessing chaos leading to adjournments since the beginning of the session.

Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra said impasse in the Assembly is not good for democracy and the Speaker should take the initiative to resolve the issue.

Strongly objecting to Naveen’s remark on Opposition parties politicising Mamita Meher murder case, Narasingha Mishra, at a press conference, came down heavily on the Chief Minister.

Reminding Naveen that when he was a Union Minister in 1999, he had arrived at a Mahila police station in Cuttack to lodge an FIR and had called an Odisha bandh, Narasingha Mishra asked, “What he did then was it not politics? And now that we are following the Constitution and rules of House business, how are we politicising an issue?”

BJP’s Deputy Leader in the Assembly Bishnu Charan Sethi said, “We will continue to protest till the Minister is removed. The Chief Minister has not accepted any of our demands such as handing over the case to CBI or sacking the Minister.”

In another press conference, BJD leaders Pramila Mallick and Atanu S Nayak termed Narasingha Mishra’s claim that the Congress was in favour of smooth running of the House as “unfortunate.” “From day one, the Congress MLAs attempted to prevent the Minister from entering the Assembly. Later, they have been creating ruckus in the House and preventing smooth functioning of the House,” they said.

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