Bhubaneswar: The second day of Winter Session of the Odisha Assembly continued to witness uproarious scenes with the Opposition creating pandemonium over probe into death of Haridaspur lady PEO Smitarani Biswal.
Soon after the commencement of House proceedings today, Congress legislators created noise by shouting slogans in the middle of the House following which the Speaker adjourned the proceedings till 12 pm. Later after it was reconvened, BJP MLAs too staged protest in the well of the House over the issue. Some leaders of the saffron party even attempted to climb up the podium of the Speaker leading to further adjournment of half-an-hour.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly and BJP MLA, Pradipta Nayak said, “Yesterday I had demanded that a motion should be brought under Rule 111 and discussion should be held on the lady PEO death issue on a priority basis.”
“If a person is murdered and a case is registered under Section 306 of IPC instead of 302, then the general public in Odisha has no rights. Those only from BJD and Congress have the rights to live. As the Speaker did not listen to us, our legislators continued their protest in the House today,” he said.
Moving adjournment notice over mysterious death of Smitarani Biswal, Congress MLAs alleged that some BJD leaders are involved behind the incident.
Narasingha Mishra, leader of Congress legislative party said, “I thank the Speaker as he accepted our proposal. In view of the gravity of the case, we requested him to cancel the question hour and accept the adjournment motion for discussion. However, he did not agree and adjourned the proceeding till 12 pm.”
Mishra further questioned why chief minister Naveen Patnaik is maintaining silence on the issue.
Meanwhile, BJD MLA Amar Satpathy expressed disapproval over repeated ruckus created by Opposition leaders.
"If the House is adjourned repeatedly due to din by the MLAs, it will yield no result. The issues should be raised through proper forum," he said.
MoS for Home Dibyashankar Mishra said the autopsy report confirmed that Smitarani Biswal committed suicide and her death occurred due to asphyxiation. "Rupesh Bhadra was arrested basing on sufficient evidences. Further probe is on," he added.