BHUBANESWAR: Speaker Surama Padhy on Monday rejected the notice for no-confidence motion against the state government brought by the Congress due to continuous disruptions in the House.
The Speaker said the no-confidence motion was submitted to the Assembly secretary on September 18 and she had asked officials to bring the notice for admission in the House on September 19. However, as there was continuous disruption in the proceedings, the notice could not be placed in the House on that day and it has lapsed.
The Congress MLAs protested the decision of the Speaker and staged a dharna near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the Assembly premises. They also shouted slogans like ‘BJD-BJP Bhai Bhai’ in the well of the House before walking out after the announcement by the Speaker.
Leader of Congress legislature party Ram Chandra Kadam later told mediapersons that the BJD had joined hands with the BJP to prevent a discussion on the motion. “During the last three days, BJD members have been deliberately disrupting the proceedings only to help the BJP government in avoiding a discussion on the motion,” he alleged.
The Congress, which has 14 MLAs, had submitted the no-confidence notice with signatures of 15, including the sole CPI (M) member. The party had also requested the BJD as the main opposition to support the motion. However, the BJD did not respond to the request. Instead, their members created ruckus over different issues, which led to adjournment of the proceedings. On the other hand, Congress had issued a whip to its members to be present in the House, anticipating that the notice will be moved for discussion.
Earlier, as soon as the question hour started, BJD members rushed to the well demanding a discussion on dilution of powers of the elected Panchayati Raj representatives by the state government. Congress members also protested from their seats demanding the no-confidence motion be accepted for discussion. As noisy scenes continued, the House was adjourned till 4 pm.
After the Congress members left the House in protest, normalcy returned, with the BJD members participating in the Bill discussion.