BHUBANESWAR: The Assembly on Friday witnessed uproarious scenes over the alleged custodial deaths in Puri and Biramitrapur with the Opposition BJP and Congress members creating a ruckus in the House over the incidents.
As soon as the post lunch session of the first day started, Opposition MLAs vociferously demanded a statement by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who holds the Home portfolio, on the two incidents. The issue was raised in the House by Leader of Opposition PK Naik. The Opposition legislators rushed to the well of the House and some of them were seen attempting to climb the Speaker’s podium.
The BJP and Congress members also shouted slogans and demanded strong action against those responsible for the deaths in both the cases. As the House could not be run due to the noisy scenes, Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro adjourned the proceedings for 15 minutes till 3:25 pm.
However, the members continued to be in the well after the House reassembled forcing the Speaker to adjourn the proceedings for another 30 minutes and convene an all party meeting to resolve the issue.
The House had to be adjourned twice later for different durations as the Opposition members continued to create ruckus following failure of the all party meeting. The first supplementary budget had to be presented by Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari amidst the noisy scenes.
Condemning the custodial deaths, leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Narasingha Mishra said that these are testament to a collapsing law and order situation in the State. "What we said before is for everyone to see," he said and demanded immediate removal of the SPs of both the districts.
Addressing a media conference, the CLP leader questioned the silence of the Chief Minister on the issue. Congress members SS Saluja and Taraprasad Bahinipati said the party will continue to raise the issue in the House till action is taken against the erring police personnel.