BHUBANESWAR: Congress and BJP members stalled the proceedings of the Assembly for the second consecutive day on Tuesday protesting Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat’s refusal to allow a discussion on the recent hooch tragedy which claimed 36 lives. Noisy scenes were witnessed as the House assembled for the day with the Oposition members trooping into the well of the House, shouting slogans and demanding a discussion on the issue. Some of the members displayed placards. Pratap Chandra Sarangi (Ind) gave a speech from the reporters’ table. Though Deputy Speaker Sananda Marandi tried to continue with the Question Hour amidst pandemonium, he adjourned the House till 12.30 pm as the disturbance continued. Questioning the reason behind the Speaker’s rejection of the Adjournment Motion notice on the hooch tragedy on Tuesday also, Opposition leader Bhupinder Singh alleged that the Government was under tremendous pressure from the liquor lobby. Singh said the government is afraid of a discussion as the Opposition wants the resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is primarily responsible for the tragedy. There were noisy protests when Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty said the fresh Adjournment Motion notice given by the Opposition on Tuesday was not basically different from the previous day’s. As the Speaker had already ruled that discussion on issues which are under the purview of the Judicial Commission cannot be allowed in the House, there can be no discussion. The Opposition members maintained that it is only the Speaker who can allow or reject discussion on the admissibility of a notice and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister has no role in it. They wanted to know how the minister came to know about the content of the notice before hand. While Opposition members continued their demand for a debate on the hooch tragedy, Amat again rejected their plea saying he was unable to allow discussion as a judicial inquiry was underway. As the din continued, the speaker had to adjourn the House till the lunch hour. Normalcy did not return to the House after the recess, forcing the Speaker to adjourn it for the day after eight minutes. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who was in the House during the question hour for 15 minutes did not react.
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