Orissa Assembly

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 27: The Orissa Assembly today witnessed uproarious scenes over the alleged deterioration in the state’s law and order situation and horse trading during 2010 Rajya Sabha elections.

Opposition Congress legislators raised slogans against the Naveen Patnaik government for its refusal to take up an adjournment motion on the law and order situation during the monsoon session.

BJP members, on the other hand, staged a dharna in the well of the House as the discussion on the alleged horse trading by the ruling BJD during the 2010 Rajya Sabha polls was not allowed. All the three BJD candidates managed to win the three Rajya Sabha seats by purchasing three Opposition legislators who abstained from voting, alleged the BJP members.

“It seems the government is afraid of facing a discussion on the issue of horse trading and law and order situation,” said BJP legislator and former minister Jay Narayan Mishra.

As soon as the House met today, leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh raised the issue of alleged deterioration in the law and order situation. However, he was not allowed to continue and speaker Pradip Amat went ahead with the question-answer business.

Enraged, the Congress members stood on their seats and started raising slogans against the government.

The sloganeering by the Congress legislators and dharna by the BJP members continued through the Question Hour. Later, during Zero Hour, leader of Opposition Singh raised the issue again. He said the prevailing law and order situation in the state was alarming. The government avoided the discussion on the law and order situation in the House today although the current session was ending today.

“It seems the state government is trying to forcibly run the House with its brute majority as per its whims,” he said demanding an extension of the session to discuss several burning issues including the law and order situation.

Later, talking to The Telegraph, Singh said the state government was shying away from the discussion despite the situation being alarming with the Maoist influence spreading to more and more areas. The state administration had failed to control the law and order situation, as was evident from the group clash and subsequent police firing in Kodala under the chief minister’s home district.

Speaker Amat said he did not allow the adjournment motion on the issue as a number of official bills were slated to be discussed and passed on the concluding day today.

The House also witnessed heated exchange between BJP legislature K.V. Singhdeo and BJD member Pravat Biswal.

The issue cropped up when BJD’s Bishnu Das raised the tractor and pipe purchase scam in the state urban development department in 2007-08. He said Singhdeo, at that time, was heading the urban development department and demanded a high-level probe into the Rs 100 crore scam. He was supported by his party colleague Pravat Biswal.