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House adjourned sine die

BHUBANESWAR: The winter session of the State Assembly came to an abrupt end on Thursday afternoon with both opposition parties and the ruling coalition blaming each other for not allowing the House to function smoothly.

Speaker Maheswar Mohanty adjourned the proceedings sine die after a motion moved by Government Chief Whip Kishore Mohanty for ending the session before schedule was passed by a voice vote.

The House witnessed uproarious scenes and a minor scuffle between legislators of the opposition and the ruling Biju Janata Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition during the day.

The proceedings were adjourned twice in the pre-lunch session with the opposition members raising slogans against the government for not agreeing for a discussion on their motion pertaining to the lathi-charge on farmers and a voting on the question whether Hirakud reservoir water was meant for agriculture or industry.

The ruling parties also moved a motion for a discussion on the same issue, but were not ready for a voting on the question. With the two sides not able to break the deadlock, impasse continued to prevail in the House since the opening day, November 19.When the House reassembled at 3 p.m. in the post-lunch session, the ruling alliance was ready with its plan to bring an abrupt end to the session squarely blaming the opposition for stalling the proceedings.

The Chief Whip said that the number of days of the session be curtailed as the opposition was not allowing the House to run. The motion was passed by a voice vote.

The supplementary budget was also passed even though the impasse continued throughout the 50-minute-long proceedings in the post-lunch session. When the proceedings were about to end with the Chief Minister’s valedictory address, the entire opposition staged a walk-out in the protest against the ‘undemocratic’ running of the proceedings.

Later, Leader of Opposition J.B. Patnaik criticised the government for not allowing a discussion on the opposition motion. Terming the sine die adjournment of the Assembly as ‘undemocratic and unconstitutional’, the Leader of Opposition said that they would submit a memorandum to the Governor seeking dissolution of the government.

The Chief Minister blamed the opposition for stalling showing unruly behaviour and stalling the proceedings continuously. Referring Union Minister and Orissa in-charge of Congress Ajay Maken’s letter to the Congress Legislature Party, the Chief Minister said the Congress did not allow the House to run by acting on the instruction of a Central Minister.

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House adjourned sine die

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