Opposition brands Odisha govt 'intolerant'

Unable to get an assurance from the Speaker on protection of their rights in the Assembly, Opposition Congress and BJP today walked out of the House dubbing the ruling BJD as "intolerant" and blaming it for the week-long impasse over chitfund scam.
"We are walking out of the House in protest," Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra said while leading the walkout by Congress legislators as they failed to get a ruling from the Speaker.
BJP leader Basant Panda also made a similar announcement and staged a walkout when Speaker Niranjan Pujari moved for discussion on the demand of housing and urban development department ignoring the Opposition members' request of issuing a ruling in their favour.

Though the House remained adjourned till 3 PM, Mishra was allowed to speak in the post lunch session who sought a ruling from the Speaker.
"We, the Opposition members, are threatened with criminal case, abused and disturbed while speaking. The Opposition is ready to participate in the Appropriation Bill discussion tomorrow. But, is there any guarantee from the Chair that we will not face similar situation?," Mishra asked.
Calling the ruling BJD "intolerant", Mishra said though Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik attended the all-party meeting convened by the Speaker, he could not assure the Opposition that similar situation created by his party men would not be repeated.

In a letter to the Speaker, Mishra said, "We are very

much interested in participating in the business of the House tomorrow and express our views on the Appropriation Bill. It is because of the rigidity in the attitude of the government which is responsible for the non-functioning of the House."
"The government should be magnanimous in accepting the minimum demands of Opposition and come forward for discussion with an open mind. We seek your intervention for restoring normalcy in the House for tomorrow's business and we also seek your protection. Ruling party members, whenever facing criticism, are disturbing the House and not allowing the Opposition to have their say. This is highly undemocratic," Mishra said.

As the Opposition failed to invoke the Speaker to pass a ruling, they trooped into the Well creating a ruckus, forcing Pujari to adjourn the House five times in the day.
The Speaker said he had held at least six meetings till yesterday to bring normalcy in the Assembly. Chief Minister attended the meeting on May 10. Therefore, the Opposition should cooperate, he said.
The stalemate began a week ago after the Opposition demanded removal of Justice (retd) M M Das, who heads the chitfund probe commission, for his reported controversial statement and clarification from the Chief Minister on the issue.

The government, in the mean time, passed the demand of 31 departments through guillotine in absence of the Opposition.