BHUBANESWAR: The State Assembly was rocked by uproarious scenes on Thursday with the Opposition BJP members protesting Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Choudhury’s remark on President Droupadi Murmu. BJP MLAs rushed into the well as soon as the House assembled for the day shouting slogans against Choudhury.
Though Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha urged the agitating MLAs to allow the House to proceed with the question hour, they did not pay heed. The Speaker’s assurance to the BJP members that they will be allowed to raise the issue during the zero hour also did not yield any result.
He adjourned the House till 4 pm as normalcy could not be restored. BJP members staged a protest on the Assembly premises after the adjournment and demanded that Congress president Sonia Gandhi should apologise for Choudhury’s “unaccetable remark”.
Targeting the Congress, deputy leader of the BJP Legislature Party Bishnu Charan Sethi alleged that the Congress does not know how to give respect. Opposition chief whip Mohan Majhi said that the Congress has not only insulted the President of India, but also Odisha’s daughter. He demanded that Sonia Gandhi should take immediate action against Choudhury.
Both BJD and Congress members were silent during protest by the BJP MLAs in the House, but voiced their angst outside. BJD MLA Raj Kishore Das, who hails from Murmu’s Mayurbhanj district, condemned the Congress leader’s remark outside the House.
Rajen Ekka of Congress also condemned the statement of Choudhury as highly unacceptable. “It is very unfortunate, whoever made such a statement,” he said.