The Odisha Legislative Assembly on Monday witnessed noisy scenes during the Question Hour as the Congress members wearing black dresses created a ruckus over the disqualification of their leader Rahul Gandhi.
Finding it difficult to run the House, Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukha adjourned the House till 4 pm.
As soon as the Question Hour began, the Congress members, who were in black, went into the well, and shouted slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing it of killing the democracy and stalled the proceedings of the House, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House.
Senior Congress leader Suresh Routray accused Narendra Modi government of being dictatorial.
“He (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) has been torturing members of Nehru family. Our leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification is illegal. The speaker disqualified him within 11 minutes. It will make a huge difference in 2024. Rahul Gandhi will become the Prime Minister of India,” said Routray.
Censuring the Modi government, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Sarat Pattanayak said, “During the time of Narendra Modi, the democracy is on the brink of collapse. To save democracy, all the MLAs have joined hands. We are standing in solidarity with Rahul Gandhi. Later in the day, we will submit a memorandum to the Governor.”
When asked why the BJD is keeping mum on the issue, Patnaik said, “Apart from the hunger for power, there are many scams like the Chit Fund case and Mines scam. Perhaps fearing action from the CBI, they are maintaining such silence.”
Meanwhile, protesting against the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi, the State unit of the Congress took out a massive rally from the circuit house to the Raj Bhawan where they will stage a demonstration and later submit their memorandum to the Governor.
(Reported by Harihar Chand and Jagdish Das, OTV)