Unable to complete his speech on the Appropriation Bill debate in the Assembly due to disturbances by the Treasury bench, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra today claimed the Prime Minister's Office has asked Odisha Chief Secretary to take action against the state government and the Chief Minister in corruption cases.
"The PMO in a letter to the Odisha Chief Secretary on December 7, 2015 has directed to take required action against the Chief Minister and the state government in corruption cases. I was about to raise the matter in the House in my speech for which I was not allowed to speak," the Congress leader told reporters outside the House.
Asked about the nature of corruption charges against the state government and the Chief Minister, Mishra, without taking any name or elaborating, said "The corruption charges related to chitfund scam and coal block distribution scam."
Alleging that he was prevented from completing his speech in the House in a planned manner, Mishra said the Speaker also did not provide protection and adjourned the proceedings with slight murmuring from the Treasury bench.
"Why the ruling party members are so frightened of me? Because, they know I will expose them. Therefore, they (BJD) created pandemonium in the House even when the Assembly was discussing on the Appropriation Bill," Mishra said.
Earlier, after several adjournments during the day, Speaker Niranjan Pujari allowed the Leader of Opposition to initiate the debate.
As Mishra started by describing May 13 as a "Black Day" for Odisha Assembly, the BJD members were on their feet, shouting and asking him to withdraw his comments. Unable to run the House, Pujari adjourned the proceedings for 30 minutes.
When the House reassembled, Mishra attacked the government dubbing it "undemocratic, corrupt, incompetent, intolerant, devoid of foresight and insensitive."
"I call them undemocratic as the Treasury bench do not allow me to speak in the House," he said.
Justifying his corruption slur against the state
government, the Congress leader said, "They are involved in mining scam (as per Shah Commission report), Dal Scam, Coal Scam, Water Scam and also Chitfund Scam."
With Mishra levelling corruption charges against the state government and the ruling party, the Treasury bench members were on their feet and shouted slogans leading to further adjournment of the House.
When the House reassembled after half an hour at 8.30 PM, the Speaker called the name of BJD member Samir Ranjan Dash to speak, while Mishra was waiting to complete his speech.
"As the Appropriation Bill will be passed today, I will not give more time (to Mishra)," Pujari said.
Annoyed over the Speaker's decision, Congress members rushed to the Well and shouted slogans against the government even as finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat went on reading out the reply. As the Speaker ignored the shouting, the Congress members walked out in protest.
Amat, while replying to the debate, rejected all allegations levelled by Mishra and claimed the people have voted the BJD government for its good works.
Stating that the Supreme Court had called CBI a "caged parrot," Amat said, "His (Mishra) party is involved in National Herald case, 2G Scam, Bofors Scam and now in AgustaWestland."
The Leader of Opposition's allegations were not based on facts, Amat said, adding the Congress leaders should ensure to come out of the net they have fallen into, instead of pointing fingers at others.
The Assembly passed the Odisha Appropriation Bill-2016 involving Rs 98,416.92 crore in absence of the Opposition.
