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Sparks fly over Vedanta issue in Assembly

Special Correspondent

Debate on alleged political funding by the group demanded

BHUBANESWAR: Pandemonium prevailed in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday with the Opposition parties demanding a thorough discussion on the alleged political funding by the Vedanta group in the State.

Little business was transacted during the day as the House had to be adjourned for several times.

Trouble began at the beginning of question hour with Opposition Chief Whip Satyabhushan Sahu demanding that the issue be discussed first.

Members of Opposition parties rushed to the well of the House when Speaker Maheswar Mohanty allowed conduct of question hour saying that the Vedanta issue could be taken up for discussion later in the day.

As legislators resorted to slogan-shouting inside the well of the House, the Speaker adjourned the House for an hour.

The situation, however, did not improve when the House reassembled at 11-50 a.m.

Opposition members demanded that the fax message about some court order regarding imposition of a ban on a book titled ‘Vedanta’s Billions’ that was shown in the Assembly by Government Chief Whip Kishore Mohanty on Wednesday be placed before the House and the issue of alleged political donations by Vedanta be discussed threadbare.

As unruly scenes prevailed again, Deputy Speaker Prahallad Dora adjourned the House for lunch till 3 p.m. Chaotic scenes dominated the post-lunch session.

The Speaker had to adjourn the House from 3 p.m. till 3-30 p.m., from 3-30 p.m. till 6 p.m. and from 6 p.m. till 6.30 p.m.

At 6-30 p.m., the House was adjourned for the day as the Opposition stuck to its demand for a discussion on the issue.

The discussion on the Rural Development Department’s budget demands, which was to be held in the afternoon session, was kept for July 7.

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