BHUBANESWAR: The winter session of the Assembly started on a stormy note on Tuesday with the Opposition members creating ruckus in the House over the missing words of the Constitution, ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from the preamble displayed in the building on the occasion of the Constitution Day.
The Opposition members also demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi over the death of three tribal women in Mandipanka village in Kandhamal district by consuming mango kernel gruel.
Senior BJD member and former minister Ranendra Pratap Swain raised the issue as the question hour started. Stating that the deletion was an affront to the Constitution, Swain said that the Supreme Court on Monday rejected PILs seeking deletion of of these two words from the preamble of the Constitution. It is unfortunate that these words are missing from the preamble of the Constitution displayed in the Assembly, he added.
Congress members also joined the protest in the House terming the development as unfortunate. Earlier, soon after the question hour started, Congress MLAs trooped into the well of the House attacking the government over the death of three tribal women after consumption of mango kernel gruel in Kandhamal.
Holding the chief minister responsible for the deaths, the members demanded his resignation. This led to a heated exchange between BJP and Congress members. Speaker Surama Padhy requested the members to return to their seats and said that the issue can be discussed after the question hour.
However, the Opposition members remained unrelenting. As uproarious scenes prevailed, the Speaker found it difficult to conduct business and adjourned the House till 12.25 pm, them till 4 pm.
Earlier, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi moved obituary motion and expressed deep sorrow over the deaths of former members of the Assembly Samir Dey, Dhaneswar Majhi, Makardhwaj Pradhan, Utkal Keshari Parida and Purna Chandra Majhi recently.
Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik also conveyed his condolences, along with Congress Legislature Party Leader Ramachandra Kadam and CPI (M) MLA Laxman Munda, who mourned the loss of the former members. In a show of respect, members observed one-minute silence for the departed souls.