Bhubaneswar: Odisha Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy Tuesday rejected another notice of the Congress Legislature Party for bringing a non-confidence motion against the state’s BJP government, leading to a disruption of the session.
The Speaker said that the Assembly secretary Monday received a notice from the CLP leader Rama Chandra Kadam, which sought to move a no-confidence motion against the 15-month-old government.
The CLP moved the second notice after the earlier one September 18 could not be accepted due to frequent adjournments.
“I refuse to accept the notice as per rule of the Odisha Assembly as well as the practice in the Parliament, that two notices for moving a no-confidence motion cannot be taken up one after another. The next such notice could be taken to consideration after six months of the first notice,” Padhy said.
Therefore, the Speaker dismissed the notice filed September 22, on procedural grounds, sparking fresh controversy and protests.
Stating that a no-confidence notice on the same subject cannot be reintroduced within the same session, Padhy clarified that a six-month interval is required before bringing another such move on similar grounds.
Congress legislators, however, accused the Speaker of deliberately blocking debate on critical issues such as women’s safety, unemployment, and the farm crisis.
Protesting the Speaker’s rejection, the Congress members rushed to well of the House and raised slogans against the BJP government.
Unable to run the proceedings, Padhy adjourned the House five times and convened an all-party meeting to bring normalcy.
However, the Congress MLAs remained adamant and preferred to boycott the House.
CLP leader Kadam stated that the party would take the issue to the streets and explain the procedural injustice to the public.
In another issue, BJD’s deputy leader Prasanna Acharya drew the attention of the Speaker to the alleged police excess on the party workers and leaders who participated in the Vidhan Sabha Gherao agitation.
He said the police used water cannon and beat up the protestors who were demanding an immediate rollback of the government decision to allegedly curtail the authority in the elected representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
Acharya demanded a ruling from the Chair. As the Speaker did not respond and moved to the next programme, he along with all the party MLAs walked out of the House and staged a dharna near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the premises.
Though the government chief whip and other members from the treasury bench requested them to return to House and participate, BJD leaders remained adamant and continued boycott the proceeding.
