An all-party meeting convened by speaker of the state assembly Pradeep Amat to break the impasse surrounding the abduction of two Italian tourists by Naxals remained inconclusive.
Amat had called a meeting of different political parties in his chamber following demand by Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh to admit an adjournment motion moved by the Congress. It may be noted that the speaker had refused to entertain the adjournment motion on Tuesday, citing security reasons.
“This government has not taken a single step in resolving the hostage crisis. Discussions are yet to begin to secure the release of the Italian tourists even as the Naxals have extended the deadline by 24 hours. Our adjournment motion was not admitted on Tuesday despite the fact that no other matter was of greater public importance to be discussed on the house”, Singh said in the assembly during the zero hour.
He also demanded a statement from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the latest position on the hostage crisis.
Leader of BJP legislature party K V Singh Deo said the house needs to adopt a resolution unanimously on the matter to ensure that the abducted Italian nationals are released at the earliest. Meanwhile, Patnaik hit back at the Union home minister P Chidambaram over Central help on the abduction issue.