Bhubaneswar: Proceedings in the state Assembly on the last day of the monsoon session were stalled till post-lunch session as Opposition Congress and ruling BJD created uproarious scenes during the Question Hour over fuel price hike.
Though the Question Hour passed off peacefully for about 50 minutes, the Congress and BJD members raised the fuel price hike issue and created a pandemonium, forcing Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat to adjourn the House till 3 pm.
Congress members were seen wearing aprons bearing paintings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan inside the Assembly to protest the rising prices of fuel.
As the House adjourned till post lunch session, an adjournment motion moved by the Congress over the recent flyover collapse incident, alleging poor infrastructural work could not be taken up.
“Though the price of fuel is decreasing across the globe, it is increasing in our state and country. The Centre had declared a daily fuel price revision, but it has only resulted in hike of petrol and diesel prices,” government chief whip Amar Prasad Satpathy said outside the House.
He said the consumers are getting affected as price of essential commodities also increases with the rise in fuel prices.
Opposition BJP, however, called it a “fixing” between the BJD and the Congress to protect the ruling party at the Centre as a debate over the motion could have put the state government in trouble.
BJP member Rabinarayan Naik alleged that though the Congress had moved an adjournment notice over the flyover collapse, it later joined hands with the BJD and disrupted the proceeding.
“Our party was ready to debate over the issue. However, the Congress members protested the fuel price hike and deviated from the flyover collapse issue. It appears that there is a fixing between the Congress and BJD to protect the Chief Minister who is in charge of the works,” Naik said.
BJP’s allegation was, however, rejected by Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati. “The Congress doesn’t have a tradition of involving itself in fixing with other parties. Rather, the BJP has the habit of doing so,” he said. PNN/Agencies
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