Odisha Minister Seeks Naveen Patnaik’s Arrest Over ‘Indiscipline’ During Governor’s Assembly Address; BJD Reacts

Bhubaneswar: As the Odisha Assembly continued to witness uproar for the second day, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Mahaling on Tuesday sought arrest of BJD president and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Naveen Patnaik over alleged indiscipline during Governor’s address in the House.

The Minister told reporters that the LoP needs to be arrested for alleged indiscipline during the address of Governor Raghubar Das on the opening day of the Budget session of the Assembly on Monday.

Mahaling alleged that the rules of the House have been breached by the LoP for which appropriate action can be initiated.

Endorsing Bahaling’s views, Minister of State for Sports and Youth Services Suryabanshi Suraj said rules clearly state that under no circumstances any form of indiscipline will be tolerated during the President or Governor’s address.

Whatever happened during the Governor’s address was unfortunate, and it was not expected from a responsible Opposition, he said.

Suraj said the Parliamentary Affairs Minister’s statement on the need for action against the Leader of Opposition is not his personal opinion. It is clearly mentioned in the Parliamentary procedures, he said.

Reacting sharply to the statements of the BJP leaders, BJD MLA Arun Sahoo termed the demand laughable and said that such remarks show their lack of experience and maturity.

Asking BJP to refrain from making such ‘ridiculous’ statements, the former Minister said he has  never seen anyone getting arrested over any Assembly or Parliament proceedings.

Stating that BJP is new to power and lacks adequate knowledge about the rules to ensure proper functioning of the Assembly, he said business advisory committee (BAC) is yet to be constituted for smooth functioning of the House.