Bhubaneswar: The Orissa Assembly was Tuesday
adjourned twice on the first day of the monsoon session
following an uproar over alleged horse-trading by the ruling
BJD in the just concluded Rajya Sabha polls.
As soon as the Question Hour began, senior Congress
leaders, including Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh and
party chief whip Prasad Harichandan, wanted the House to take
up an adjournment motion on alleged irregularities in June 17
Rajya Sabha polls.
Several Congress legislators trooped into the well
raising slogans against the ruling BJD and accusing it of
winning all the three Rajya Sabha seats by adopting unfair
means and using money power. They alleged that three
opposition MLAs abstained from the biennial elections due to
foul play.
As the BJP members also stood up in support of the
assault on the BJD government, some Congress MLAs were seen
attempting to climb the Speaker`s table.
When repeated pleas for order in the House went unheeded,
Speaker Pradip Amat first adjourned the House for an hour.
After it reassembled, the House was again adjourned till 5 pm
as the members were unrelenting.
Congress MLAs Shibaji Majhi and Gregory Minz from
Lanjigarh and Rajgangpur, respectively, and BJP legislator
from Bonai, Bhimsen Choudhury had abstained from voting in
Rajya Sabha polls defying their party whips.
Harichandan told reporters outside the House that the BJD
"hijacked all the three Rajya Sabha seats by horse-trading and
irregular methods" and the Assembly must discuss the matter
through an adjournment motion.
Harichandan said Majhi, who in the mean time had got
himself admitted to a hospital here, remained inaccessible as
people were being prevented by police from meeting the MLA.
Similarly, another party MLA Gregory Minz was traced
in Mumbai in a mysterious manner, Congress leaders said
"holding the ruling BJD responsible for keeping opposition
legislators away from the RS poll arena."
Bhimsen Choudhury, suspended by BJP for abstaining
from voting defying the party whip, was present in the
assembly, while Congress was yet to take any action against
its two errant MLAs.
PTI
