Odisha Assembly conducts business sans Opposition

Both Congress and BJP boycott the House protesting against alleged partisan action of the Speaker

The Odisha Assembly today conducted the Question Hour with Opposition benches remaining vacant as both Congress and BJP members boycotted the House protesting against alleged partisan action of the Speaker.

Speaker Niranjan Pujari adjourned the House immediately after Question Hour till 3 pm and appealed the Opposition members to participate in the proceedings during the post lunch session.

He asked the parliamentary affairs minister and the government chief whip to meet the Opposition leaders and convince them to return to the House. The monsoon session of the Assembly was scheduled to function till Saturday. While Opposition Congress MLAs took the matter to the notice of Governor S C Jamir, BJP members sat on a sit-in demonstration near the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Assembly premises.

The Opposition members had yesterday walked out of the House protesting the manner in which the Odisha Land Grabbing (Prevention) Bill, 2015 was passed.

The House also passed The Odisha Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015, The Odisha Police Bill, 2015 and The Odisha Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2015 in absence of Opposition members.

"We have sought the Governor's intervention as no rule of law is followed while passing bills in the House. The Governor has assured us to look into the matter," Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra told reporters.

BJP legislature party leader Basant Kumar Panda said, "We have no option other than boycotting the House as there is an attempt to suppress the voice of the Opposition. The Speaker should have given equal importance to both the treasury bench members and opposition MLAs. Unfortunately, that is not happening in the Assembly."