Bhubaneswar, Mar 25 (UNI) Odisha Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy on Tuesday suspended 12 Congress legislators for seven working days due to their unruly behavior inside the well of the House, disrupting legislative proceedings.
Except for Tara Prasad Bahinipati and Ramesh Chandra Jena, the remaining 12 Congress MLAs were suspended for seven working days. The Speaker directed the suspended MLAs to vacate the House.
Both Tara Prasad Bahinipati and Ramesh Chandra Jena were absent when the Speaker announced the suspension of the other 12 Congress legislators.
However, the suspended MLAs refused to leave the House and continued beating cymbals inside the well, even after the House was adjourned twice for 15 minutes each, until 16:34 hours, following the ruckus created by the Opposition Congress.
The suspension came after Government Chief Whip Saroj Kumar Pradhan moved a motion requesting the Speaker to take action against the Congress members for creating disruptions and displaying unruly behavior, which obstructed major Assembly proceedings.
Amid the commotion, the motion was passed by voice vote, and the Speaker announced that all 12 Congress members were suspended for seven working days.
Despite the suspension order, the agitated Congress MLAs continued shouting slogans and beating cymbals in protest, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House at 16.04 hours until 17:33 hours.
Earlier, on March 11, amid chaos in the Odisha Assembly, Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati was suspended for seven days due to his unruly and indecent behavior.
While moving the motion, BJP Chief Whip Saroj Pradhan stated that Bahinipati had insulted the Speaker by throwing posters at her on Monday. Bahinipati also climbed onto the Speaker’s podium and attempted to snatch the microphone but was stopped by security staff.
The Congress members protested Bahinipati’s suspension by boycotting Assembly proceedings and staging a dharna near the Gandhi statue, demanding the withdrawal of the suspension order.
Since Bahinipati’s suspension, Congress MLAs have persistently disrupted Assembly proceedings over the issue of rising crimes against women in the state during the nine-month tenure of the BJP government.
To express their protest, Congress members wore black attire, blew whistles, beat cymbals, and played trumpets inside the well of the House, disrupting legislative business for the past ten days.
Congress Legislature Party leader Ram Chandra Kadam stated on Tuesday that the party would not allow the House to function until the government agreed to form a House Committee to investigate the increasing atrocities against women in the state.
Due to protests by both Congress and BJD members, the Odisha Assembly on Tuesday witnessed multiple adjournments, leading to the suspension of Question Hour, Zero Hour, and the Adjournment Motion.
In recent days, Speaker Surama Padhy had convened several all-party meetings to resolve the impasse, but they remained inconclusive.
An all-party meeting was also held on Tuesday, but it failed to yield any results, prolonging the deadlock in the House and prompting the Speaker to suspend all 12 Congress members present.
However, BJD Chief Whip Pramila Mallik disapproved of the Speaker’s decision to suspend the Congress MLAs. She stated that instead of suspending them, the Speaker should have engaged in dialogue to resolve the deadlock in the House.
UNI DP BD