BHUBANESWAR: Continuing its protest against Speaker Surya Narayan Patro for conducting Assembly proceedings for the last three days in the absence of main Opposition and denying the party an opportunity to keep the party’s views on the mysterious death of woman village level worker (VLW) Smitarani Biswal, the Opposition BJP on Monday boycotted the Assembly and met Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal over the issue.
The BJP legislators, led by Leader of Opposition Pradipta Naik, boycotted first half of the day’s proceedings and staged a dharna near Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in front of the Assembly. Later, they took out a rally to Raj Bhavan and met the Governor where they apprised Prof Lal about the lady VLW’s death case and lopsided manner in which a sensitive case is being handled by the State Government.
The BJP MLAs alleged that though they have been trying to seek the Government’s attention for a discussion over the issue since the commencement of the winter session, they are not being allowed to raise the issue in the House.
While four other people involved in the case are yet to be arrested, the prime accused Rupesh Bhadra has not been charged under Section 302 of the IPC. The BJP MLAs urged the Governor to direct the State Government to hand over the case to CBI for an impartial probe. They also sought his intervention to protect their rights in the House which the Speaker has so far denied them.
Accusing the Speaker of running the House in a partisan manner, senior BJP MLA Jayanarayan Mishra said the presiding officer of the House should act impartially.BJD chief whip Pramila Mallick criticised the BJP for trying to be relevant through media over an issue which has already been discussed in the Assembly.
She said there are many important issues in the State for discussion. Members of the House want to raise issues of their constituencies and problems of their constituents. Since huge amount of public money is spent on each Assembly session, the BJP legislators should realise the value of money and how best can the valuable time of the House be utilised.
Congress leader Santosh Singh Saluja called upon the BJP leaders to attend Assembly proceedings for the interest of the people. Naik threatened to intensify their protest as the Speaker adjourned the House while he was speaking on the lady VLW case.