The Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) legislators belonging to the Opposition Congress and BJP prostrated before Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inside the Assembly on Friday.
The legislators, who were on a dharna inside the House overnight demanding implementation of the Odisha Reservation of Vacancies (ORV) Act, begged and prostrated at Mr. Patnaik’s feet and then lied down on the floor as he remained unmoved and left the House.
The incident occurred minutes after Mr. Patnaik paid tributes to former Minister Raghunath Patnaik who passed away on Thursday.
Congress legislator Prafulla Majhi justified prostrating before the Chief Minister saying that they had followed Odia tradition to put forth their demand in order to protect the interest of ST and SC people who comprise 38 per cent of the population of the State.
The ST and SC legislators had started their dharna in the well of the House on Thursday after they were forcibly evicted from outside the Chief Minister’s chamber where they were sitting on dharna demanding implementation of the ORV Act and 38 per cent quota for tribal and Dalit students in medical and engineering colleges.
The Assembly authorities had last night switched off the air-conditioner in the House after the legislators sat on dharna, but power supply was restored after their protest.
The House was adjourned time and again as the ST and SC legislators continued their dharna and other Opposition legislators reiterated their demand for the Chief Minister’s resignation over the chit fund scam.
The impasse continued in the House for the tenth consecutive day over the chit fund scam as the Chief Minister did not concede to the Opposition demand to make a statement on the issues relating to the controversial statement by chit fund scam inquiry commission head Justice M.M. Das and deposit of Rs.8 crore in BJD’s bank account on a single day.
As the proceedings were adjourned again and again during discussion on the Appropriation Bill till late in the evening, the House was likely to be adjourned sine die once the Bill was passed.
PTI adds:
Mr. Majhi said that they sought support and cooperation of all the lawmakers irrespective of political parties to fight for the downtrodden people.
“The sanctity of the Assembly should not be violated in any way. They should protest in a democratic way,” said BJD spokesperson Sashibhusan Behera.
BJP lawmaker Rabi Naik, who was one among SC/ST MLAs, said: “We have not brought any disrepute to the Assembly. We have just raised a demand that is vital for the interests of 38 per cent of the State’s population.”
