The Winter Session of the State Assembly was adjourned sine die ahead of schedule on Monday with Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat accepting a motion moved by the government Chief Whip Pravat Tripathy in this regard.
The Speaker adjourned the proceedings bringing to an end the session that was scheduled to continue till December 26 after the Chief Whip moved the motion submitting that the House cannot run due to non-cooperation of the legislators of opposition Congress.
Congress legislators raised slogans and displayed banners during the question hour and zero hour demanding resignation of Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Surya Narayan Patro for misleading the House by stating that the Centre had given only Rs. 250 crore for relief and rehabilitation of the victims of Cyclone Phailin and consequent floods.
The proceedings of the House were also stalled by the Congress legislators on Friday over the same issue and the House was adjourned till Monday. The Congress legislators had said that the Centre had already released Rs. 1,000 crore for the Phailin-affected areas.
MLA suspendedThe Congress legislators, who raised slogans against Mr. Patro by standing near their seats during the question hour, entered the well during to the zero hour forcing several adjournments. A Congress legislator who attempted to damage the microphone on the Speaker’s podium was suspended by the Speaker for a day.
Since the situation remained unchanged when the House reassembled, Mr. Tripathy moved a motion for adjournment of the House sine die, and the Speaker accepted the motion amid staging of a walkout by the legislators of both Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party.
As soon as the House was adjourned sine die, Congress legislators registered their protest by staging dharna near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Assembly premises.
‘Unconstitutional’Later, they went and met Governor S.C. Jamir at the Raj Bhavan and apprised him about the sudden sine die adjournment of the House.
Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh and Opposition Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan, who were part of the delegation that met the Governor, alleged that the adjournment of the House was unconstitutional and undemocratic. “The government was scared and did not want to face the motions moved by us including a no confidence motion,” said Mr. Singh. The government ensured adjournment of the House sine die 10 days ahead of the schedule to save itself from criticism on major issues that were to be discussed in the remaining days of the session, Mr. Harichandan said.
