The Odisha Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution suspending twelve Congress MLAs for seven days over indiscipline, disrupting the House proceedings and not giving due respect to the chair of the Speaker.
The Congress has 14 MLAs in the Assembly.
Speaker Surama Padhy suspended the Congress MLAs because they did not allow her to run the House and disrespected the Chair. For the last four days, Congress has resorted to a unique way of waking the BJP government up to the plight of women in the state by beating gongs and playing the clarinet and flute inside the state Assembly.
Despite the suspension order, the Congress MLAs continued staging a dharna on the House floor, demanding the formation of a House Committee on the issue of crime against women. The Speaker had asked the MLAs to vacate the House. Sources said that as the Congress MLAs did not leave, the Speaker asked the House marshals to forcefully evict them.
The Congress and the BJP government have been locked in a deadlock over the demand for the constitution of a House Committee to probe cases of atrocities against women for the last ten days.
A Congress MLA Dasarathi Gomanga said: “Crimes against women are on a rise. Why is the government not listening to our demands for the constitution of a House Committee. Tribal girls are being subjected to sexual harassment in hostels. Is it a crime to rake up these issues? We will gherao the Assembly on March 27 on this issue.”
The BJD has extended its support to Congress. “It's wrong to suspend twelve MLAs from the House for seven days. We had earlier seen how the BJP performed in the House during its role as an Opposition party. The government is saying they are ready for a discussion on the floor of the House, but they are not doing it. Why are they not adhering to the demand of the Congress to form a House Committee to examine the issue of crime against women?” said BJD MLA and former minister Arun Sahoo.
However, the BJP MLAs criticised the Congress's move and said there was a tacit understanding between the BJD and Congress to not allow the House to function. “The government spends around ₹70 lakh daily to run the House. They are not cooperating with the Speaker to run the House,” said BJP MLA Babu Singh.