Bhubaneswar, March 26 The Speaker of Odisha Assembly, Surama Padhy, on Wednesday suspended two more Congress legislators for seven days for creating an unruly scene inside the House.
On Tuesday, 12 out of the 14 Congress MLAs were suspended from the Assembly for seven days.
With Wednesday's suspension of senior Congress leaders Tara Prasad Bahinipati and Ramesh Jena, all 14 MLAs of the party stand suspended from the House.
It is pertinent here to mention that on March 11, Bahinipati was suspended from the House for seven days following a scuffle with the ruling BJP members in the House.
On Wednesday, the Assembly proceedings commenced at 10.30 a.m. without 12 Congress MLAs. The main opposition, Biju Janata Dal, also walked out of the House, protesting the action taken against the Congress MLAs.
The question hour proceeded without the members of the opposition. Later, the two Congress MLAs, Tara Prasad Bahinipati and Ramesh Jena, who had escaped suspension on Tuesday, entered the House with gong bells and started disrupting the proceedings by beating the musical instrument. Though the Speaker repeatedly asked the two Congress leaders to avoid disrupting the House, the legislators continued their noisy protest.
Following this, the ruling party Chief Whip raised a motion, and the Speaker suspended both Congress MLAs. The BJD MLAs also walked out of the House, demanding a response from the Assembly. They later paid floral tributes to the Ambedkar statue on the premises.
Later, chaos unfolded at the main gate of the Assembly, where both the leaders of BJD and Congress engaged in a scuffle with police. The BJD MLAs rushed towards the Assembly gate. From outside, the suspended MLAs attempted to break the police barricade and unlock the Assembly gate. Both Congress and BJD MLAs tried to break the Assembly gate lock from opposite sides. Eventually, the BJD MLAs managed to break the lock during the incident.
Later, MP Saptagiri Ulaka reached the Assembly premises in support of his suspended party colleagues. He, along with the suspended Congress MLAs, sat in protest in front of the Assembly gate, leading to a scuffle with security personnel. The incident lasted for about an hour before the police successfully removed the Congress supporters from the front gate of the Assembly.
Currently, heavy barricading and police deployment have been enforced outside the Assembly gate.
DCP Bhubaneswar Jagmohan Meena said that as many as 40 platoons of police force are deployed for the security arrangements at the Assembly. Notably, the Congress MLAs were staging regular protests inside the well of the House, beating gong bells, blowing whistles and playing other traditional musical instruments, demanding the formation of a House committee to investigate issues related to atrocities against women. The party will stage a gherao of the Assembly on March 27.
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