Bhubaneswar: The Assembly Wednesday witnessed four adjournments as both the opposition BJP and Congress MLAs shouted slogans in the well of the House over different issues.
While BJP members raised the farmers issue during the Zero Hour, the Congress MLAs rushed to the well of the House alleging that the Speaker was not following rules while conducting business in the Assembly.
There was a virtual din in the House when members of both the Opposition parties (BJP and Congress) raised slogans at the top of their voices. The Congress members led by Jeypore MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati shouted slogans in the well of the House and even hurled papers at the Speaker that landed on his desk.
As the situation didn’t improve, Speaker Surya Narayan Patro adjourned the House for 15 minutes at 12.06pm and asked the Leader of Opposition, Leader of Congress Legislature Party, Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari, Parliamentary Affairs Minister and chief whips of both government and opposition, to come to his chamber for a discussion to resolve the issue.
However, the meeting ended inconclusively. Later, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings for 15 minutes twice and then till 3pm.
“With a painful heart, I am compelled to say that rules of the business are not being followed in accordance to the Constitution,” Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra said. He suggested the Speaker to hold a consultation with all the stakeholders and set right the procedure for running the House. He also said the ministers including Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, are reading out written replies and not responding to the questions of members.
“It appears that someone outside the House is writing the issues and forcing them to read it in the Assembly. It should not be done,” Mishra said. “If they have to read out writings, they have to take permission from the Speaker,” he added.
BJP members, on their part, however, attempted to corner the government on the farmers’ issue. Party’s deputy leader in the Assembly Bishnu Charan Sethi wanted a clarification from the government on the number of beneficiaries under the Centre’s flagship scheme PM-KISAN.
“The state government claimed to have disbursed financial assistance to 51 lakh farmers under KALIA scheme, but it gave a list of only 20 lakh farmers for PM-KISAN. The state government is callous towards implementation of PM-KISAN in Odisha,” Sethi said.
BJP MLA Jaynarayan Mishra said farmers Wednesday staged a demonstration in front of the office of the Sambalpur Collector over different issues including paddy procurement. “The government is reluctant to procure paddy from the farmers,” he added.