Bhubaneswar, Dec. 7: Congress members today decided not to leave the well of the Assembly till chief minister Naveen Patnaik gives a reply on the murder of schoolteacher Itishree Pradhan.

They will stay put in the Well of the House till Monday when the Assembly resumes.

The Congress members will have to depend on the Assembly canteen for their dinner and lunch. The watch and ward employees and police will remain on their toes till the Opposition members vacate the Well.

For the first time in the history of the Assembly, a leader of Opposition also sat on dharna in the Well today. While leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh would remain in the Well till Monday, all the 27 Congress MLAs will join him on rotation basis.

A sikshya sahayak of Tikiri Upper Primary School, Itishree, who had alleged about sexual harassment by the local sub-inspector of schools, was set ablaze on October 27 night by goons while she was asleep in her room in the school hostel.

She succumbed to burn injuries at a private hospital in Vishakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh on November 1.

As the Zero Hour began, BJD members raised the issue of central negligence towards the state. All ruling party members stood up and condemned the Centre’s apathy towards the state. They also raised slogans against the Centre’s alleged step-motherly attitude towards the state.

“As against Rs 1,000 crore central advance announced by the Prime Minister, the Centre has sanctioned only Rs 250 crore. We will continue our fight against the Centre,” said deputy chief whip Sanjay Dasburma.

Congress chief whip Prasad Harichandan, however, said the BJD could have brought the issue through a motion for debate.

“The way they disrupted the functioning of the House is unfortunate,” he said.