BHUBANESWAR: It was all pandemonium in the Assembly on Saturday as Opposition members protested the abduction of their BJD colleague Jhina Hikaka by suspected Maoists on Friday night.No business could be transacted during the day as the members rushed into the Well as soon as the Question Hour started. It was all chaos, as some members broke the mike on the Speaker’s podium.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik continued to inform the House about the abduction of the MLA amidst noisy scenes. Speaker Pradip Amat adjourned the House from 10.32 am to 12.30 pm after Naveen was through with his statement.The Speaker adjourned the House again at 12.30 pm and 3 pm without any business being transacted. Discussion on demands for grants of the Forest and Environment and the Works departments was cancelled. Budgets of these departments will now be guillotined.CONG STIR CONTINUES: After the House was adjourned, Congress MLAs continued to be in the Well in protest. They will stay put there till the House meets on Monday, Congress Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan said and demanded enhanced security to the MLAs.Criticising the State Government for not allowing a discussion on the abduction, Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh and Harichandan accused it of being ‘hand-in-glove’ with the Maoists and pushing the State into vortex by ignoring Centre’s advisories.Terming the situation as grave, Singh said though a notice for adjournment motion had been moved in the Assembly on the issue, the House was adjourned abruptly after Naveen’s statement.In a similar vein, BJP leader and former minister Jaynarayan Mishra alleged that there was an ‘understanding’ between the BJD Government and the Maoists. “How can the common man be safe in Odisha where an MLA has been abducted by Maoists,” he wondered.Harichandan said Odisha is witnessing ‘complete anarchy and lawlessness’ as the State Government is allegedly using its intelligence machinery for political purposes instead of keeping tabs on Maoists.The Centre had cautioned the State Government several times saying the Maoists would resort to desperate steps like targeting politicians, he said.However, the State Government paid ‘no heed’ to the Centre’s advice, he said and added Naveen even opposed the NCTC. ‘’Today’s incident is the outcome of the State Government ‘ignoring’ the Centre’s advice,’’ he said. The incident took place while negotiation is on to end the Italian hostage crisis, he added.
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