BHUBANESWAR: After staging a night-long dharna near Mahatma Gandhi statue on the Assembly premises in protest against suspension of three BJP MLAs from the House after the alleged shoe hurling incident and the hurried passage of the Odisha Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill, the party legislators called off the agitation on Sunday following a request by Odisha co-in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Pal Singh Tomar.
The saffron party legislators met Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal in the evening and requested him not to give his assent to the Bills passed in the Assembly in a hurry without allowing the Opposition members to participate in a discussion. “We requested the Governor to return the six Bills passed on Saturday in the Assembly without any discussion with a direction to the Speaker for tabling the Bills again in the House for discussion and passing,” Leader of Opposition Pradipta Naik said after the meeting.
Holding Speaker SN Patro responsible for the unpleasant situation in the House that saw hurling of slippers and microphones at the his podium, Naik said such an incident would not have occurred had he allowed the Opposition to present their opinions.“The Speaker stifled the Opposition voice at the behest of leader of the House Naveen Patnaik by not allowing them to speak while passing the Bill. Even the Leader of Opposition was not given an opportunity to speak. This is undemocratic and unconstitutional,” he said.
“He (Patro) seemed to be acting under pressure from the ruling benches,” Naik alleged.
Questioning the impartiality of the Speaker in Assembly, Opposition chief whip Mohan Charan Majhi and senior member Jayanarayan Mishra said they are prepared to apologise to the people of the State if they are hurt by their behaviour. Asked if the hurling of shoes, dustbin and earphone at the Speaker is justified, Mishra said there was no option. “After all, we are all human beings and have emotions. When you feel that your legitimate rights are curtailed, you will obviously react,” he said.
Leader of Congress Legislature Party Narasingha Mishra met the agitating BJP MLAs at dharna site, came down heavily on the State government. “I strongly condemn the manner in which the government passed the Bills without allowing the Opposition members to participate in the discussion. This is grossly undemocratic and unconstitutional,” he added.