Bhubaneswar: The ruling BJD MLAs today created ruckus in Odisha Assembly leading to adjournment of the House till post lunch session, even as the Opposition continued their demand for a discussion on the Prakash Mishra vigilance case.
Speaker Niranjan Pujari adjourned the House till 3 pm amid noisy scenes by both Opposition and ruling party members.
As soon as the House assembled for the Question Hour, the ruling party members rushed towards the Opposition benches and caught hold of Congress chief whip Taraprasad Bahinipati and tried to prevent him from displaying a banner. Congress MLAs were then protesting from their seats.
Though Congress and BJP members participated in the yesterday's session, they had continued to demand a discussion on the Prakash Mishra vigilance case, where Orissa High Court indicted the state government and the state chief minister.
The treasury bench members asked Congress members to stop the sloganeering against the chief minister and pointed out that the matter relating to Prakash Mishra case could not be discussed as per decision of the Speaker.
"The ruling party members at the instruction of the chief minister rushed towards Opposition side. The Congress members were protesting from their seats and did not approach the Well. The BJD had planned to disrupt the proceeding. We condemn it," the Leader of Opposition Congress, Narasingha Mishra, alleged.
Mishra said there was an attempt to supress the voice of the Opposition inside the Assembly, while BJP legislature party leader Basant Panda dubbed the ruling party members' action like running away from the debate.
Bahinipati alleged outside the House that BJD members overpowered him from behind by clutching his arms, while somebody even tried to strangle him.
"For a while, I thought I could get killed," he alleged.
Earlier, Speaker Pujari had allowed an adjournment discussion on the self-styled godman Sarathi Baba issue.
Deputy chief whip of the ruling BJD Rohit Pujari, however, rejected the allegation made by Bahinipati. "Nobody had tried to strangle Bahinipati; BJD members had tried to stop him from disrupting the Question Hour," Pujari said.