The Odisha Assembly on Tuesday saw members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Congress lawmakers engage in an altercation leading to the adjournment of the House proceedings several times.
During Question Hour, a heated altercation broke out between BJP MLA Jaynarayan Mishra and Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati which quickly escalated into a physical confrontation.
Mishra rushed towards Bahinipati, who was standing in front of urban development minister Krushna Chandra Mohapatra and allegedly pushed him.
“Mishra caught hold of my shirt collar and pushed me. I was requesting minister Mohapatra to stop giving a reply when the House was not in order. I requested him with folding hands. But Mishra suddenly came up to me and caught hold of my collar,” Bahinipati said, who then tried to climb onto the Speaker’s podium and break the microphone forcing Speaker Surama Padhy to adjourn the House.
“The Speaker should treat all parties equally. But she is killing democracy. When we requested the minister to stop his speech, MLA Jay Narayan Mishra grabbed me by my collar. As they have majority, they made us to leave House by scuffling with us,” alleged Bahinipati.
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{{/usCountry}}The BJD members on the other hand demanded a statement from state chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi over Mishra’s statement two days ago referring to the merger of erstwhile Koshala region with Odisha in 1936 as a “historical mistake”.
BJP MLA Tankadhar Tripathy said that the behaviour of the opposition members in the assembly was unacceptable.
“Opposition is part of a democracy. Limits should be drawn in the House. While the urban development minister was replying to a question in the House, the BJD and the Congress MLAs tried to break the mic and took the files away from his table. This is not acceptable in a democracy,” Tripathy said.
BJP MLA Ashok Mohanty said BJD which was ruling the state for the last 24 years was wilfully stalling the proceedings of the House.
“They did not even hesitate to scuffle with a minister. This is very unfortunate. I think they don’t have decency and morality,” he said.