Rajendra Prasad Mohapatra

Bhubaneswar: Stalemate continued in the Odisha Assembly for the sixth consecutive day on Thursday amid pandemonium over last week's suicide attempt made by a BJP MLA in connection with the alleged mismanagement in paddy procurement in the State.

Speaker Surya Narayan Patro adjourned the proceedings till 12 pm following noisy protests by members of the ruling BJD and the Opposition parties over the issue.

As soon as the House assembled for the question hour at 10.30 am, ruckus erupted with the ruling BJD members and the Opposition parties engaging in sloganeering in the well of the House.

The ruling party members continued their demand for an apology by the BJP over party MLA Subhas Panigrahi's suicide bid inside the House. However, BJP rejected BJD's demand and reiterated that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik should apologise for his government's mismanagement over the procurement of paddy in the State that has rendered thousands of farmers helpless.

BJP has issued a whip to all its party members to remain present in the House from 10 am to 7 pm on Thursday.

Meanwhile, members of the Congress party staged a protest in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Assembly premises and demanded procurement of paddy from all farmers in the State.

Senior Congress leader Sura Routray slammed Chief Minister Patnaik for the impasse in the Assembly.

"The Chief Minister should convene a meeting immediately. Senior members from all parties should deliberate and find a way to resume the function of the House," Routray said.

As the house failed to transact any business, BJD sought the Chief Minister's intervention by marching to the Lok Seva Bhawan.

"More than 50 MLAs of our party went to the Lok Seva Bhawan and sought the intervention of the Chief Minister via video conferencing to resolve the stalemate," said BJD MLA Sambit Routray.

However, government chief whip Pramila Mallick contradicted by saying that the party MLAs went to the secretariat over some different purpose.

On the other hand, BJD MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik said the impasse in the Assembly 'is not a good sign for democracy'.

"The adjournment of the House for the sixth consecutive day is not a good sign for democracy in the State. We (MLAs) should all ask ourselves if it is correct. If we don't get the answer then we don't qualify to be public representatives," said Patnaik.

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