Bhubaneswar: The Assembly Monday was thrown into turmoil over Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s statement on Mahanadi water issue which he had placed in the House Saturday, even as three bills were passed amid Congress’s stiff protests and a walkout by the BJP. The House witnessed adjournments for five times throughout the day.
As soon as the House convened for the day at 10.30 am, Opposition Congress members rushed to the Speaker’s podium, while the BJP members stood at their desks protesting the statement of the Chief Minister on the Mahanadi dispute which he had placed Saturday after two days after a thorough debate by the members of the House.
The Congress members demanded the Leader of the House to place another statement over the Mahanadi issue stating that the previous statement of Patnaik was ‘false’ and “doesn’t propose a solution to the problems related to Mahanadi which the House members had pointed out during the two-day discussion.”
Congress Chief Whip Taraprasad Bahinipati even climbed the reporter’s table kept inside the well leading to disruption of Question Hour. Unable to run the proceedings, Speaker Niranjan Pujari adjourned the house till 3pm.
As the members reassembled for the day, opposition members created uproar over Chief Minister’s statement again leading to adjournment of the house for another 15 minutes at 3.04pm. When the House reconvened, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra through a point of order criticised the state government as well as the Chief Minister over the Mahanadi dispute.
“What the Chief Minister said over Mahanadi dispute will not solve the problems we discussed,” Mishra said, adding, “The Chief Minister has failed to fulfill the promise he had made to the House in 2001 in which he had said that his government will not allow Chhattisgarh to construct any barrages or dams without consulting Orissa.”
“The Chief Minister must place a statement in the House stating what plans he has to resolve the dispute with Chhattisgarh and protect the interest of people of Orissa,” he said.
Meanwhile, a heated argument also took place between the opposition Congress and ruling BJD when the Leader of Opposition said that the Chief Minister has not been able to prove himself as the Leader of the House.
Amid din, the Assembly was adjourned till 4 pm and the Speaker convened a meeting with the opposition parties and treasury bench members to end the stalemate. As the deadlock continued the House was adjourned twice and resumed at 5pm.
The Congress members continued to shout anti-government slogans near Speaker’s podium, while the BJP members also protested from their seats.
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