Bhubaneswar: The suspended Congress MLAs today staged demonstration before the State Legislative Assembly after being prevented by security personnel from entering the Assembly premises.
Though it was a sunny day, Congress Legislature Party leader Ram Chandra Kadam and two other Congress MLAs– Ashok Das and Pabitra Saunta—staged a dharna in front of the entrance gate of the Assembly.
Shri Kadam criticized the BJP government for not allowing public representatives to enter the Assembly. He said it was highly unfortunate that public representatives were being denied entry into the State Assembly by the police.
The Congress Legislature Party leader said he had intended to visit the Assembly to stage a dharna near the Mahatma Gandhi statue but was prevented by the police from entering.
“We know that the Speaker has suspended us from the House. But, we have every right to enter the Assembly premises. However, they have denied entry to us which is illegal and undemocratic,” he said.
As the lawmakers continued to sit on dharna for about three hours in the scorching heat, two of them fell ill and doctors were called for their treatment. Later, they were shifted to the Capital Hospital as both of them showed symptoms of dehydration, a party leader said.
He further alleged that the State Government was forcibly using police personnel to block public representatives from entering the Assembly, something that had never happened before in the history of Odisha politics.
In protest against the police action, both Kadam and Das sat on a dharna at Gate No-3 of the Assembly.
Congress MLA Pabitra Saunta also staged a dharna in front of the Assembly gate after being denied entry into the State Assembly.
On the other hand, the House smoothly functioned today without Congress MLAs.
Notably, all 14 Congress MLAs have been suspended from the House for seven working days by Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy for their unruly behavior in disrupting the proceedings of the House.