Naveen hurt in Orissa House melee

Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was hurt in a scuffle between members of the Opposition and Treasury benches in the state assembly.

Patnaik's injury was, however, described as "minor" by the doctor at the Capital Hospital, where he received treatment after the incident. Patnaik suffered a torn ligament in his left foot and doctors have advised him complete bed rest, at least for the next couple of days.

As a fallout of the incident, Congress member Anup Sai was suspended for the rest of the Assembly session on charges of unruly behaviour in the House.

Stung by Sai's suspension, the Congress today moved a motion in the House demanding an inquiry into the incident.

Congress whip Satyabhushan Sahu, who moved the motion in the afternoon session of the House, said an inquiry should be made as to who without any authority forced the electronic media to stop the live telecast of the House proceedings.

The incident occurred during Question Hour, when state Steel and Mines Minister Padmanabh Behera was replying to a query on alleged irregularities in a recently signed agreement between state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and Vedanta Alumina, a subsidiary of Sterlite Industries, for mining of bauxite in the Kalahandi district. Vedanta Alumina is setting up a 1 million tonne alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in the same district.

Dissatisfied over the minister's reply, Congress members rushed to the Well and raised slogans against the government and the chief minister. Sai suddenly started hurling his slippers at the visitors' gallery even as security personnel tried to stop TV crew from telecasting the proceedings.

This further fuelled pandemonium as several ruling BJP-BJD coalition members joined the melee in the Well leading to scuffles between the two.

As the members were pushing each other around, some of them moved towards the chief minister's chair toppling the desk in front of him. Patnaik's left foot got trapped under the furniture and he was in visible pain.

His party colleagues immediately rushed to his aid and extracted his foot from under the desk. He was then helped out of the House and taken to Capital Hospital for an X-ray and treatment.

Orissa Assembly Speaker Maheswar Mohanty later informed the House that the chief minister had not suffered any fracture, but he had suffered a sprain in his left leg.

The House was adjourned for 30 minutes by the Speaker following the incident. When it met again later, a motion was moved by the ruling coalition seeking the suspension of Sai for the remainder of the session. The motion was discussed and adopted. In protest, the Congress members walked out of the House.