BHUBANESWAR: With no let up in the Assembly chaos, Speaker Surama Padhy on Tuesday wielded the axe on the Opposition, suspending senior Congress legislator Tara Prasad Bahinipati from the House for seven days following a scuffle with the ruling BJP members.
Bahinipati was suspended for his alleged “misconduct and unruly behaviour” after a notice was moved by government chief whip Saroj Kumar Pradhan in the afternoon session. The Jeypore MLA had been leading the Congress protests in the last two days. He had broken the microphone on the Speaker’s podium on Monday. Earlier in the day, he attempted to climb the Speaker’s podium again and then rushed to the seat of Urban Development minister KC Mahapatra during the question hour.
The House then witnessed unprecedented scenes leading to a scuffle between the BJP and Congress members in the well during which BJP MLA Jayanarayan Mishra is alleged to have grabbed the collar of Bahinipati and pushed him.
The situation escalated when Congress members rushed towards the seat of Mahapatra and Parliamentary Affairs minister Mukesh Mahaling. The Congress members were protesting over increasing crime against women in Odisha.
The BJD members were also in the well of the House protesting against Mishra’s statement that the decision to merge Koshal with Odisha was a historical blunder. However, they stayed away from the melee.
Condemning the action against him, Bahinipati alleged that the Speaker acted illegally. “I was assaulted by BJP members, but she has not taken any action against them. The Speaker has acted in a partisan manner,” he told mediapersons outside the House.
The BJD also termed the Speaker’s action undemocratic and walked out from the House. Senior BJD MLA Arun Sahoo said that senior MLAs of the party will meet the Speaker tomorrow and request her to withdraw the suspension of Bahinipati.
The Congress MLAs sat on a dharna in the well of the House in protest after the suspension was announced by the Speaker. Later, they shifted to the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the premises. The members withdrew the dharna after OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das visited the place and persuaded them to call it off.
Criticising the decision as a sign of autocratic behaviour of BJP, Das announced that the Congresss MLAs will boycott the Assembly on Wednesday. He has also called a meeting of the MLAs and other senior members of the party to discuss the incident.
Earlier in the day, noisy scenes prevailed from the beginning of question hour. The Speaker, however, continued with the question hour for 30 minutes even as Bahinipati and other Opposition members were trying to climb onto the podium. She then adjourned the House till noon.
The Opposition members continued their protests and were also seen standing on the reporters’ table and raising slogans. The Speaker later extended the adjournment for 10 minutes from noon, and then again till 2 pm.
When the House reassembled at 2 pm, several BJP members including Irashish Acharya, Babu Singh, Laxman Bag and Upasana Mohapatra, demanded action against the Opposition MLAs for “continuously disrupting the proceedings and disrespecting the woman Speaker of the Assembly”. As the Opposition protests continued, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings till 4 pm.
Both the BJD and BJP legislature parties held separate meetings on the Assembly premises to chalk out their strategies. While Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi was not present in the House, deputy chief minister KV Singh Deo presided over the meeting where discussions were held on the situation arising out of the scuffle.
With the chief minister not coming to the House for the last two days, the BJD members, wearing black badges, launched a symbolic “search” for him on the Assembly premises with a lantern. They also staged a sit-in in front of the CM’s chamber.