Normalcy returns to Odisha Assembly after ruckus by BJP; six Bills passed

Opposition BJP members, who had created a ruckus earlier alleging that some of their questions were rejected without showing any reason, later participated in the proceedings while the Congress staged a walkout.Normalcy returned to the House after Speaker Pramila Mallik in a ruling asked the Assembly secretary to find out the reasons behind not informing the BJP members whose questions were rejected.Wearing black badges, the saffron party members had staged a protest in the well of the House protesting rejection of their questions.

After remaining paralysed since Monday, normalcy returned to the Odisha Assembly on Tuesday evening and the House passed six bills. Opposition BJP members, who had created a ruckus earlier alleging that some of their questions were rejected without showing any reason, later participated in the proceedings while the Congress staged a walkout.

Normalcy returned to the House after Speaker Pramila Mallik in a ruling asked the Assembly secretary to find out the reasons behind not informing the BJP members whose questions were rejected.

Wearing black badges, the saffron party members had staged a protest in the well of the House protesting rejection of their questions. “The (BJP) members should be given satisfactory reply on the reason for rejecting any question raised by them. The questions were rejected whimsically,'' said opposition chief whip Mohan Majhi.

In their bid to counter the agitating BJP members, the ruling BJD MLAs wondered why the Centre did not hike the MSP of paddy.

Later, the House passed six Bills on Municipal Law Amendment, GST amendment and others. While the BJP members participated in the discussion during the passage of the Bills, the Congress MLAs led by their leader Narasingha Mishra walked out of the House alleging that they were not allowed to speak on the Bills.

Though Speaker Mallik sent Parliamentary Affairs Minister Niranjan Pujari and some other senior leaders to convince the Congress members to join the House, they refused to return. The Bills were passed in the absence of Congress members.

Earlier on the day, the House witnessed ruckus for the second consecutive day as opposition and treasury benches shouted slogans against each other. Noisy scenes broke out as soon as the House assembled for the question hour.

The exchange of slogans between the BJD and BJP members forced Speaker Pramila Mallik to adjourn the House first till 12 noon and convene an all-party meeting to restore normalcy.

The meeting was held at the speaker’s chamber and the proceedings resumed at 12 noon.

However, the commotion broke out again forcing the speaker to adjourn the House till 4 pm.

As the House remained paralysed, Mallik in a ruling asked the Assembly secretary to inquire into the allegations of the BJP members. BJP MLA Suryabanshi Suraj alleged that the government was avoiding questions in the House. “It (the government) is filtering questions as per their convenience which is not acceptable. The voice of democracy is being choked in Odisha,'' he said.

Government chief whip Prashant Muduli alleged that the BJP members are disrupting the House proceedings without any reason. “It is unfortunate. They too have a moral responsibility to ensure functioning of the House,” he added.

Congress member Taraprasad Bahinipati blamed both BJD and BJP for the impasse in the House.