Bhubaneswar: The normally staid Vidhan Sabha hall degenerated into a wrestling turf as scores of legislators pushed, shoved and lunged at each other amid heated exchanges on Tuesday, resulting in the seven-day suspension of Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati for indiscipline.
Moments after the House reconvened for question hour, BJD members stormed into the well, raising slogans against alleged ‘divisive’ remarks by BJP MLA Jayanarayan Mishra, while Congress members demonstrated against ‘rising’ crimes against women. The question hour, however, continued despite the chaos.
To intensify protests, some opposition MLAs came near housing and urban development minister Krushna Chandra Mohapatra, who was answering a question. This enraged BJP MLAs, who opposed the move and it led to fracas involving members of all three parties. The situation escalated when Mishra and Bahinipati became involved in a heated exchange in the well of the House.
Speaking to the media outside the assembly, Bahinipati said Mishra had dragged him by his collar while accusing BJP MLA Babu Singh of pushing opposition MLAs.
Mishra denied the allegation, saying whatever happened is on record. On his earlier comment that western Odisha’s integration was a ‘historic blunder’, which was the reason behind the unrest, Mishra said, “I stand by what I said for the development of my region.”
Law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan, however, said it was Mishra’s personal opinion.
Responding to Tuesday’s unrest inside the assembly, BJD MLA Arun Kumar Sahoo said the BJP has been trying to muzzle the voice of the opposition, which is unprecedented in Odisha’s history.
Congress, which has decided to boycott assembly proceedings on Wednesday in protest against Bahinipati’s suspension, shot off a letter to speaker Surama Padhy seeking action against some BJP legislators.
BJP MLA Tankadhar Tripathy said the opposition stooped to a new low by snatching the files from the housing and urban development minister and trying to forcefully stop him from answering during question hour. “The whole problem is because BJD and Congress are competing to position themselves as the real opposition force,” Tripathy said.
Following his suspension, Bahinipati, accompanied by other Congress MLAs, staged a demonstration outside the assembly. He accused the speaker of acting in a partisan manner. BJP MLA Irasis Acharya, however, defended the speaker’s decision.
Earlier in the day, BJD members, armed with kerosene lanterns, went looking for chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi in different ministerial chambers within the assembly, trying to throw light on his perceived absence.