Odisha Assembly stalled, adjourned till Monday

Odisha Assembly could today transact only for five minutes in three phases and was finally adjourned till Monday in view of the repeated agitation by the opposition Congress members in well of the House.
Opposition Congress members have been staging placard demonstration in well of the House since two days alleging "note for vote" allegedly by the ruling BJD in the recently concluded Urban Local Body (ULB) elections in nine western Odisha districts.
As soon as the House assembled for the day at 10.30 am for the question hour, Congress members rushed to the well holding placards and shouted at top of their voice paralysing the proceeding. Unable to operate the proceeding, Speaker first adjourned the House till noon.

However, the similar situation continued when the house re-assembled at 12 noon forcing the Speaker to adjourn the house till 3 pm. Deputy Speaker Sananda Marandi finally adjourned the House till 10.30 am on Monday as the opposition members attempted to climb on the speaker's podium.
"It is difficult to understand why the Congress was disrupting proceedings when it had moved an adjournment motion on the Bhushan plant issue," said parliamentary affairs minister Kalpataru Das blaming the opposition for the stalemate.
During the pandemonium in the House in the day, ruling BJD MLAs were heard shouting slogans alleging Congress members had been bribed by Bhushan Steel company to avoid a debate on the adjournment motion.

"We have been protesting the manner in which the ruling BJD distributed currency notes to get votes in ULB elections," said senior Congress member S S Saluja.