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Assembly rocked over Nayagarh attack

BHUBANESWAR: The Nayagarh Maoist strike dominated the proceedings of the Assembly throughout the day on Monday with Opposition parties demanding a discussion on the issue.

The Opposition staged a walkout in the afternoon when Speaker Maheswar Mohanty continued with other business of the House without a discussion on the Maoist menace.

Pandemonium prevailed soon after the House assembled for the day at 10.30 a.m. with the Opposition insisting on a discussion on Friday night’s naxalite attack.

In the beginning, Leader of the Opposition J.B. Patnaik said that a motion moved by the Opposition on the naxal attack be taken up for discussion by cancelling question hour.

The Speaker asked the Opposition to wait till the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Assembly meets at 12 noon to take a decision on the matter.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty said there was no justification in cancelling question hour. The government was ready to discuss the issue, but only after the BAC took a decision in this regard, he added.

The Speaker adjourned the House as Opposition legislators rushed to the well of the House and raised slogans against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and one of the Congress MLAs broke the microphone fitted on his table.

When the House reassembled, the proceedings were again adjourned till 3 p.m.

At 3 p.m., Mr. Mohanty said the BAC had taken a decision that the issue should not be discussed in the Assembly at this point of time, as there was possibility of it affecting the morale of the policemen who were engaged in the combing operation to track down the Maoists. The naxal attack issue was not discussed during the day, the discussion went on till 4.50 p.m. on the question whether the matter be discussed in the House at this juncture.

Criticising the government for not agreeing to a discussion on the issue, Opposition legislators alleged that the government was shying away from the discussion to hide its failure in tackling the naxalite problem that was more of a socio-economic issue. Similarly, members of the ruling parties continued their opposition to the discussion on the issue saying that the matter should be taken up at a later date.

As the Speaker allowed discussion on other matter, the Opposition walked out alleging that the Speaker was running the proceedings in an undemocratic manner.

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