Bhubaneswar: Veteran Congress leader and former Odisha Minister Narasingha Mishra on Wednesday mounted a scathing attack on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government over the suspension of all 14 party MLAs from the Assembly.
Mishra, a former Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, told reporters that the BJP government adopted a rigid approach towards the issue of rising crimes against women being raised by the party in the Assembly.
The state government was neither prepared to discuss the issue nor willing to constitute a House committee to probe the matter, he said.
Terming the action of the government as unprecedented, Mishra said they have created history as no such thing had ever taken place in the state.
Stating that the government has added fuel to the fire ahead of the ‘Assembly Gherao’ programme of the Congress on Thursday by suspending all 14 MLAs from the House, the veteran leader said people will show their anger during the protest.
He said that people of the state will react sharply while Congress would hit the streets and intensify the agitation in the coming days.
Congress has already announced its plan to stage a protest and gherao the Assembly building in Bhubaneswar on March 27 to highlight the alleged rise in crimes against women in the state. Party MLAs also raised the issue in the Assembly and demanded the formation of a House committee to look into the issue.
Notably, Speaker Surama Padhy suspended 12 Congress MLAs on Tuesday and the remaining two legislators – Tara Prasad Bahinipati and Ramesh Chandra Jena – of the party on Wednesday as they continued to disrupt the question hour by beating gongs and shouting slogans.
Earlier in the day, the suspended Congress lawmakers along with other party leaders scuffled with police outside the Assembly as they tried to enter the premises. They wanted to sit on a dharna near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the House premises but were pushed away. Ulaka and other MLAs were also picked up by the police from the Assembly gate during the protest.
