Bhubaneswar: Odisha Legislative Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy today suspended senior Congress Lawmaker Taraprasad Bahnipati for seven days from the House for showing unruly behavior in the well of the House.
After more than a dozen Treasury Bench Members demanded action against the Opposition Members who try to snatch the mic of Urban Development Minister Krushna Chandra Mohapatra and threw papers on Speaker during the Zero Hour earlier in the day, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Mahaling moved a motion seeking action against Congress MLA Shri Bahinipati. After hearing the ruling party Members, Speaker Shrimati Padhy suspended Shri Bahinipati for seven days.
Following the order, the Congress MLAs sit on dharna before the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the premises of the Assembly. Tying a black ribbon on their mouths, They decided to stage a whole night protest in the House in protest of the suspension of Shri Bahinipati.
However, Opposition BJD and Congress strongly objected to the decision of the Speaker and demanded reconsideration and rollback of the direction of the Speaker.
Shri Bahnipati said he strongly condemned the action by the Speaker and alleged that Shrimati Padhy was working on the behest of her party.
“The Speaker has murdered democracy. She should take action against the ruling party members who physically attacked me,” he demanded.
Speaking to media persons, senior BJD leader Arun Kumar Sahoo said an unfortunate incident happened in the Assembly because the Speaker tried to run the House forcefully when the Opposition BJD and Congress members were staging protests demanding statements from the Chief Minister.
“The Speaker had not conveyed an all party meeting to resolve the deadlock in the House. Shri Bahinipati was attacked by the ruling party members. Even slang language was used against him in the august House,” he said.
Shri Sahoo said the Speaker heard the speech of 17 BJP MLAs but did not allow any Opposition member to speak in the House.
“We request the Speaker to examine the incident impartially and reconsider her decision and roll back the order,” he said, adding, “A delegation of senior BJD MLAs would try to meet the Speaker to request her to reconsider the decision.”
A senior BJP leader and former Minister had made a remark in favour of division of the state. Instead of the Chief Minister or Deputy CM, a Cabinet Minister has given a statement in the House that it was a personal statement of the BJP leader, which is not acceptable, the former Minister said.
On the other hand, BJP MLA Irasish Acharya said the Speaker’s direction is final and everyone should have to obey it.