BHUBANESWAR: Proceedings in the Assembly were disrupted for the second day on Thursday with the BJD members creating a ruckus over Polavaram and Mahanadi issues.
Meeting of all political parties convened by Speaker Niranjan Pujari to restore normalcy in the House failed due to lack of consensus. The meeting continued for one hour in the afternoon, but there was no official announcement about the outcome.
The business advisory committee (BAC) meeting convened by the Speaker in the evening, however, decided that the Mahanadi issue will discussed on Friday. The Opposition Congress had demanded that the House should take up discussion on Mahanadi river water dispute with Chhattisgarh on a priority basis.
Ruling BJD members have been disrupting proceedings of the House for the last two days over the issue of Polavaram dam project constructed by Andhra Pradesh and Mahanadi dispute.
As soon as the question hour started on Thursday, BJD members started shouting slogans over the Polavaram and Mahanadi issues. The Congress members also rushed to well shouting slogans in retaliation forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House at 10.32 am till 3 pm in the pre-lunch session. Soon after the question hour started, BJD members started shouting slogans against the Centre on the Polavaram and Mahanadi issues.
Later, the BJD ministers and legislators staged a dharna near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the Assembly premises. Criticising the Speaker for the manner in which the ruling BJD members disrupted proceedings of the House, Leader of the Opposition Narasingh Mishra demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
An adjournment motion notice given by the Congress for discussion on the non-payment of crop insurance to farmers for the last year’s drought in 27 districts could not be taken up as the House had to be adjourned because of the noisy scenes. In the afternoon session, Leader of the Opposition raised the issue of disrespect to National Anthem by BJD members in the House on Wednesday and demanded action against them. He also requested the Speaker to take up the motion given by the Congress on Mahanadi issue for discussion.