BHUBANESWAR: The second half of the budget session of the Assembly got off to a noisy start on Tuesday with the Congress members creating a ruckus in the House demanding students union elections this year instead of 2025 as announced by Law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan.
As the House commenced after a 19-day recess, Congress members trooped into the well after the obituary references were over and demanded that elections be held this year as there is enough time for preparation for the polls.
Senior MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati told mediapersons that youth and student Congress activists will launch agitation across the state if the government does not hold elections this year. “The previous BJD government avoided college elections as it knew the BJD will be defeated. Now, the BJP government is reneging on its promise to hold elections,” he alleged.
The BJD members were also on their feet to draw attention of the government to three issues. The first was for expunging the demand for arrest of leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik for leading a walkout during the Governor’s address on July 22. The second was placing the status report on the case in which Governor’s son has been accused of assaulting a Raj Bhavan staff, and the third, announcement of 10 per cent reservation for Agniveers in all uniformed services of the state by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi outside the Assembly.
“We had raised all these issues in the first half of the session but there was no response from either the state government or the BJP. We raised the issues again today,” Opposition deputy chief whip Pratap Deb told mediapersons.
Speaker Surama Padhy adjourned the proceedings of the House for one hour from 10.41 am to 11.41 am and again till 4 pm following the uproar by Opposition members.