Bhubaneswar, Dec. 9: The stalemate in the House ended today with the state government agreeing that chief minister Naveen Patnaik would make a statement on the Rayagada teacher burning incident tomorrow.

Congress MLAs, led by leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh, were on a round-the-clock dharna in the Well since Saturday afternoon, demanding a statement on the death of 27-year-old schoolteacher, Itishree Pradhan, who had approached various authorities following alleged sexual harassment by an education department official, was burnt to death.

Though she died on November 1 and the crime branch was asked to probe the case, police are yet to arrest those who had poured kerosene on her and set her afire. When the House met today, the Congress members, who were on dharna inside the Assembly, raised slogans accusing the chief minister of being involved in the incident. They were carrying placards and banners. Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat had to adjourn the House once.

When the House reassembled, the Speaker called the Opposition members to take part in the adjournment motion on the incident. When the members sought to know whether the chief minister would take part in the motion, parliamentary affairs minister Kalpataru Das asserted that the government was ready for a discussion on the issue. He also made it clear that it would not be possible for Naveen to reply to the debate today as he was busy having a meeting with a delegation of the 14th Finance Commission.

Following the assurance that the motion would be discussed tomorrow and the chief minister would make a statement on the issue, the Congress members withdrew their agitation. The Assembly later passed budgetary demands for agriculture and water resources departments.

Singh said they had lifted the dharna following the Speaker’s announcement. “The unpleasant situation could have been avoided had the Speaker given the same ruling on Saturday,” he said.