BHUBANESWAR: Stepping up the demand for a caste census in the state and reservation of seats in educational institutions for SCs, STs and OBCs as per their population, the Opposition BJD and Congress disrupted proceedings of the Assembly, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House several times on Tuesday.
As soon as the Assembly met for the day, the Opposition MLAs trooped into the well of the House shouting slogans over the issue. Some of the MLAs including Adhiraj Panigrahi of BJD and Tara Prasad Bahinipati of Congress also tried to climb the Speaker’s podium. Speaker Surama Padhy convened an all party meeting after the House had to be adjourned several times during the Zero Hour over the issue. Normalcy returned after the meeting with Opposition members participating in the proceedings from 1 pm.
Leader of the Congress legislature party Ramchandra Kadam demanded that Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi should give a statement on the issue in the House. Kadam said he had written a letter to the chief minister in this regard.
The Congress leader had in the letter stated that the backward groups comprise 94 per cent of the population in the state, but students belonging to these categories have been deprived of their rights. Deputy Opposition chief whip Pratap Deb also questioned the silence of the chief minister on such an important issue.
The ruling BJP slammed the Opposition parties for disrupting proceedings of the Assembly on the issue and questioned what the BJD and Congress had done to give justice to the SCs, STs and OBCs during their over 50-year-rule in the state.