Suspended Cong MLAs forcibly 'evicted' from Odisha Assembly, claim leaders

Odisha Congress president Bhakta Charan Das and AICC in-charge of Odisha, Ajay Kumar Lallu are sitting on dharna in the Master Canteen area protesting against the suspension of 12 party MLAs

The suspended Congress MLAs, who were staging a sit-in the Well of the House protesting action against them, were forcibly evicted from the Assembly and dropped near the Congress Bhawan, a party leader alleged on Wednesday.

The MLAs were "forcibly evicted" from the Assembly on Tuesday night and they had to spend the night on the street at Master Canteen, he said.

"We were manhandled and forcibly evicted from the Assembly at the dead of the night. This is grossly illegal and undemocratic," alleged party MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati, one of the two Congress MLAs who was not suspended.

Odisha Congress president Bhakta Charan Das and AICC in-charge of Odisha, Ajay Kumar Lallu are sitting on dharna in the Master Canteen area on Wednesday protesting the suspension of 12 party MLAs.

Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rama Chandra Kadam alleged that the party MLAs during their stay in the Assembly, were denied food, water and even toilet facility. Kadam was injured in the Assembly on Tuesday night as a security man slammed the door on his hand. He sustained injury on his finger.

The Congress MLA were on Tuesday suspended from the House for seven days on a charge of 'indiscipline'. They were demanding formation of a House Committee to inquire into the rising crimes against women across the state after the BJP came to power in June last year.

The suspension of 12 Congress MLAs also triggered a face-off outside the Assembly on Tuesday night as police prevented the entry of senior Congress leaders to Assembly premises. The police later took the leaders to reserve ground and released them later.

Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena said that the Congress leaders and activists were taken on preventive arrest and released at the reserve ground.

Taking to X, Congress Odisha in-charge Ajay Kumar Lallu said: "The Congress party is fighting from the streets to the House for investigation of the exploitation and atrocities on women in Odisha. Our 12 MLAs were expelled from the House, and now when state president Bhakta Charan Das Ji and former state president Jaydev Jena Ji were going to meet the MLAs sitting on strike in the Assembly, the police forcibly arrested them. Why is the government afraid of a high-level investigation? What does it want to hide by not forming an investigation committee?"  Suspended Congress MLA Sofia Firdous on Wednesday said: "Let this be clearsuspension and intimidation cannot stop us. We will continue our fight, inside and outside the Assembly, until every woman in Odisha feels safe and justice is served.