Odisha Assembly Adjourned Till 4 PM Amid Ruckus By BJD Over CM’s ‘ASO Job Sale’ Remark

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly was stalled on Saturday as opposition BJD members created a ruckus protesting Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s allegation that ASO jobs were being sold during the previous Naveen Patnaik regime.

As soon as the House assembled for the day, BJD MLAs trooped into the well raising slogans. Their protest came a day after the CM alleged that assistant section officer (ASO) jobs were sold for Rs 30 lakh during the BJD regime.

Noisy scenes prevailed in the House amid pandemonium by the BJD legislators, prompting Speaker Surama Padhy to adjourn the Assembly till 11.30 am.

Similar scenes were witnessed when the House reassembled as the BJD legislators again created uproar the Chief Minister’s statement. Finding it difficult to conduct business, the Speaker adjourned the House till 4 pm.

Hitting out at the CM over his statement, Opposition chief whip Pramila Mallik claimed that there is a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the previous government. She sought to know whether the Chief Minister can provide details of the place where jobs were sold for Rs 20-30 lakh.

Mallik wanted to know as to why no action has been taken if the CM is claiming that he knows the persons involved in the job scam

Responding to Mallik’s statement, BJP MLA Manas Dutta said, “CM Mohan Majhi is well aware of the irregularities done during the 24 years of ruling by the BJD as he is not new to the House. The BJD is only trying not to make any changes in OPSC and OSSSC Bills. I request the Opposition to refrain themselves from cheap politics.”

Notably, the CM had on Friday hit out at the previous BJD government while presenting the Odisha Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill 2024 in the Assembly accusing it of  misleading the future (students) of Odisha.

He alleged that irregularities in recruitment had spread to the state secretariat during the BJD rule and ASO jobs were sold at Rs 25 to Rs 30 lakh each.