Bhubaneswar: Congress leaders and workers began congregating in Bhubaneswar on Thursday to gherao Odisha Assembly over the issue of women’s safety.
Soon, OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das, MP Saptagiri Ulaka, MLA Sagar Charan Das, former ministers Jayadev Jena and Jagannath Patnaik were seen marching towards the Assembly.
The Commissionerate Police, which were completely caught unawares as hundreds of Congress members gathered outside the assembly despite the imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNS on Tuesday, have deployed 80 platoon police to ensure full-proof security during the gherao. Roadblocks have been put up with barbed wire atop to stop the protesters from entering the Assembly premises and ward off untoward incidents.
Vehicles carrying Congress workers to Bhubaneswar were also detained at various parts of the state, sources said
In a written advisory, the Commissionerate Police had earlier urged motorists to avoid various routes around the assembly’s vicinity between 9 am and 3 pm.
On Wednesday, Ex-CLP leader Narasingha Mishra said that the government had added fuel to the fire prior to the” Assembly Gherao” by suspending all 14 Congress MLAs from the House. They have been barred from entering the Assembly premises for a week for unruly behaviour. The Congress members have been disrupting the proceedings for the past several day by beating gongs over their demand for formation of a house committee to probe into all the crimes against women that took place during the nine months after the BJP came to power.
Notably, Odisha Assembly witnessed high drama on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning with 12 Congress members being evicted from the House following a scuffle with the security staff. They alleged that they were manhandled while being forcefully removed from the house.
Speaker Surama Padhy, on the other hand, accused the suspended MLAs of assaulting and injuring the marshals and security personnel, which led to their eviction from the well of the House.
Speaking to the media, Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan had slammed Congress for resorting to disruptive tactics to salvage itself from getting irrelevant in state politics. “The House Committee demand by Congress is completely illogical. It is a conspiracy for complete washout of the Assembly session. Neither Congress nor BJD have demanded the statement of the CM on Law & order or women safety issues before,” he said.