BHUBANESWAR: First day of the Budget session of Assembly on Tuesday witnessed noisy scenes with Congress members staging a walkout after Speaker Surya Narayan Patro addressed the leader of BJP legislature party as Leader of the Opposition without formally announcing it.
Congress members also entered the well of the House shouting slogan ‘BJD-BJP bhai bhai’ questioning the justification behind according main opposition status to the saffron party after the regional outfit ‘gifted’ a Rajya Sabha seat to BJP.
The issue was raised after members including the Speaker, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, BJP legislature party leader Pradipta Naik and senior Congress leader Narasingh Mishra made obituary references to former members and martyrs of Pulwama who were from Odisha.
In the case of Naik, the Speaker addressed him as the Leader of the Opposition.
The Congress members stood up and questioned Patro as to why he addressed Naik as Leader of Opposition without formally announcing it.
“Naik may be the leader of the BJP Legislature Party, but the Speaker has not introduced him to the House as the Leader of Opposition. There are certain procedures which need to be followed before addressing Naik as the Leader of the Opposition,” said Mishra.
Mishra was the Leader of Opposition in the previous Assembly. Not taking the Congress members’ arguments into consideration, the Speaker allowed government chief whip Pramila Mallick to speak on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s address to the House.
Angry with the Speaker’s action, Congress members rushed to well of the House seeking clarification from the Chair.
As Patro did not pay any heed to the protest, the Congress members walked out.
However, there was confusion over the issue.
While Naik admitted outside the House that there was delay in submitting the resolution of the BJP Legislature Party electing him as the leader, to the Speaker, the Government chief whip said the Speaker had already received the resolution when he addressed Naik as the Leader of Opposition.
A former Speaker, who is a member of the House, said after the Speaker addressed a member as the Leader of the Opposition from the Chair, he is recognised as such and there is no need to follow any procedure.
The BJD returned to power for the fifth time in the Assembly election by winning 112 of the 146 seats.
The BJP clinched 23 seats, while the Congress bagged nine. The CPI (M) and an Independent have won one seat each.
Earlier, the House made obituary references to former ministers Bed Prakash Agarwal and Gangadhar Pradhan, former members Dutikrushna Panda, Chandrasena Naik and Parikhita Karna, besides Pulwama martyrs Prasanna Kumar Sahoo, Manoj Kumar Behera and Ajit Kumar Sahoo who were from Odisha.