Ruckus continues in Odisha Assembly for 2nd day over demand for arrest of Guv's son

Bhubaneswar, Jul 23 (PTI) The proceeding of the Odisha Assembly was disrupted on Tuesday, as the House witnessed ruckus for the second consecutive day over the demand of opposition BJD and Congress for action against Governor Raghubar Das's son for allegedly assaulting a government official earlier this month.
    The treasury bench said the opposition disturbed the governor during his address on Monday and it is a punishable offence.
    While the House remained adjourned due to a din twice till 4 pm, the situation escalated in the afternoon when opposition BJD member Dhruba Sahoo attempted to climb the speaker’s podium.

    The angry lawmaker broke the mike on the Speaker’s desk before he was brought down by other members.
    Amid the ruckus, no business could be conducted and the Speaker adjourned the House for the day.
    Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Mahaling in the afternoon session said that it is a punishable offence to create disturbance during the Governor’s address in the assembly, which was witnessed on Monday.

    He said both the opposition leader and the members should be punished for creating disturbance.

    Outside the House, Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Suryabanshi Suraj also made a similar statement.

    BJD member and former minister Arun Kumar Sahoo, however, rejected Mahaling’s assertion.

    “It is laughable to demand punishment for the leader of the opposition and opposition members. None have so far been punished anywhere for such protest in the past,” he said.

    Earlier, as soon as the House assembled for Question Hour, Opposition Chief Whip Pramila Mallik demanded a statement from Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on the matter.
    Assistant Section Officer (ASO) Baikuntha Pradhan was allegedly assaulted by the governor's son Lalit Kumar inside the Puri Raj Bhavan while he was on duty during President Droupadi Murmu's visit to the temple town on July 7. After the alleged incident, Pradhan was transferred to the home department.
    While Mallik was speaking on the issue, BJD MLAs trooped into the well of the House and demanded Kumar's arrest for taking the law into his own hands.
    "The state government has been shielding the governor's son. Where was the BJP's Odia 'asmita' (pride) when an official from Odisha was assaulted by a person from outside the state? Though an FIR was lodged at a police station on July 12, no action has been taken so far," Mallik told reporters outside the assembly after Speaker Surama Padhy adjourned the House for one hour till 11.30 due to the din.
    When the House reassembled at 11.30 am, the Congress members joined the BJD lawmakers in trooping into the well and raising slogans demanding justice for Pradhan.
    Mallik said, "We demand a statement from the chief minister on the matter."
    She also described Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan's statement on Monday that the Puri collector was probing the matter as "unfortunate".
    "What will the SP, DSP and other police officials do when the Puri district collector has been asked to probe a criminal case?" Mallik said, seeking clarification from the CM, who is also in charge of the home department.
    Ruling BJP members Jaynarayan Mishra and Tankadhar Tripathy alleged that the BJD has become intolerant as it had failed to do what the Mohan Majhi government is doing now.

    He sought to know what action the then BJD government took against several of its ministers who were entangled in criminal cases in the past.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)