Bhubaneswar: Pandemonium continued in Odisha Assembly as it reconvened after two-day break on Monday.
The commotion started soon after the obituary reference to the late MLA Debendra Sharma, who passed away on Friday, as Speaker Surama Padhy invited Electronics and IT Minister Mukesh Mahaling to respond to a question.
Congress and BJD members trooped into the Well of the House, raising slogans. Congress MLAs played gongs, cymbals and flutes to draw attention towards their demand for formation of a House Committee to inquire into crimes against women that took place in the last nine months. The BJD MLAs exhibited placards while seeking assurance from the state government for proportionate reservation for ST, SC & OBC students in different technical education institutions along with 27% reservation for OBC in both jobs and Education.
Unable to conduct the proceedings with the agitating members refusing to return to their seats despite repeated appeals, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings from 10.45 am to 12.09 pm. Following which, the BJD members staged a sit-in near the Biju Patnaik statue while the Congress MLAs sat on a dharna near the Mahatma Gandhi statue.
As uproarious scenes prevailed after the House reassembled, Deputy Speaker Bhabani Shankar Bhoi adjourned the House twice – from 12.09 pm to 12.19 pm and again till 1 pm and convened an all-party meeting in his chamber to resolve the deadlock.
Noisy scenes, however, continued during the Question Hour, forcing Sanatan Bijuli, who replaced the Deputy Speaker at the chair, to adjourn the House till 4 pm.
Notably, the House has been witnessing such disruptions for the past 10 days, forcing the Chair to adjourn the pre-lunch session without transacting any business.
