Bhubaneshwar: Odisha Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy on Tuesday suspended senior Congress legislator Taraprasad Bahinipati for seven days, hours after a scuffle between members of the ruling BJP and opposition MLAs in the House.
Bahinipati has been suspended for his alleged “misconduct and unruly behaviour”.
A notice for the motion in this regard was moved by the government chief whip Saroj Pradhan, which was accepted by the House.
The Speaker’s action came following repeated disruptions caused by the Congress MLA in the House. He had earlier in the day attempted to climb the Speaker’s podium, and allegedly rushed to the seat of Urban Development Minister K C Mohapatra, asking him to stop replying in the House.
Bahinipati had also reportedly broken the microphone on the Speaker’s podium on Monday.
Following the announcement, the senior Congress legislator sat on a dharna in the well of the House, protesting the action. “The Speaker has suspended me illegally. I was assaulted by BJP members, but she has not taken any action against them. The Speaker is acting in a partisan manner,” Bahinipati later told reporters.
Claiming himself a “victim” of injustice, Bahinipati alleged that the Speaker heard only the side of the treasury bench and ignored the attack on Opposition members. “We were neither given a chance to speak and division of votes not allowed when the motion brought by the government was adopted. This is undemocratic,” the Congress MLA said.
Opposition Congress and the BJD have condemned Bahinipati’s suspension. Earlier, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rama Chandra Kadam had given a letter to the Speaker naming some “unruly” BJP members, who allegedly attacked Congress members.
“I appeal to the Speaker to examine the video clips of the incident and take appropriate action against the minister and members of the ruling party before giving your ruling,” Kadam said.
He alleged that some members of the BJP including Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Mahaling, senior MLAs Jaynarayan Mishra, Babu Singh, Raghuram Machha and many other members of the BJP rushed to the well as if well-planned and started violence and physically assaulted Congress legislators who were protesting before the Speaker.
“We have no intention to disrespect the Speaker except express our democratic rights,” Kadam said while expressing regret for the incident that happened in the House.
Wearing black badges, Congress MLAs sat on a dharna near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the Assembly premises and plan to continue the stir till the suspension order on Bahinipati is withdrawn.
BJD member Arun Kumar Sahoo condemned the suspension and asked: “How can a BJP member hold the collar of a senior Congress MLA in the Well of the House? The BJP members also attacked the Congress MLAs. We have never seen such an incident in the House. What would the opposition do in the Assembly? Will they not protest the government’s inaction.”
Stating that a delegation of BJD MLAs will meet the Speaker on Wednesday, Sahoo alleged that they will urge her to remain neutral. “You (Speaker heard 17 BJP MLAs before giving the ruling on the suspension of Bahinipati but did not listen to any opposition member. This is gross injustice,” Sahoo said.
BJP member Ashok Mohanty said the Speaker took action after the concerned Congress member crossed the limit. “The Congress MLA climbed the Speaker’s podium, rushed to the minister’s seat and disturbed him while replying to the House,” Mohanty said.
Urban Development Minister KC Mohapatra said: “I told Bahinipati that you are a senior member and I am giving reply in the House as per the direction of the Speaker. I cannot defy the Speaker’s direction. He instead attempted to break my microphone.”
Meanwhile, Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan in a statement in the House, said that Sambalpur MLA Jaynarayn Mishra’s remarks on the merger of Koshala with Odisha was his “personal opinion and the government does not subscribe to his views.”
BJD leader Arun Kumar Sahoo rejected the Law minister’s statement and said that they had demanded a statement from the chief minister. “If not CM, the deputy chief minister should make a statement in the House on Mishra’s controversial remarks,” Sahoo said.
