The Assembly was paralysed for the second consecutive day on Tuesday with the opposition Congress members continuing demonstration in the well of the House demanding Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s resignation and an apology over the police action on a scribe and Congress activists.
The House could run for only 16 minutes due to the continued uproar by the Congress members in the well to stall the proceedings as the Speaker ensured the passing of the most important - the Odisha Appropriation Bill-2013- in haste amid the din authorising payment and appropriation of annual Budget allocation for the State for the year 2013-14 in eight minutes and finally adjourning the House till April 2 due to the vacation for Dolapurnima and Holi.
The trouble started when the House met for the day at 10.30 am to take up the question hour. In continuation to their stir protesting police action on the Chhatra Congress activists and vandalism by police inside the Congress Bhawan at Bhubaneswar on Monday, the Congress members, who were on their toes by the time the Speaker arrived at his seat to start the proceedings, trooped into the well and started raising slogans against the Government and
the Chief Minister.
They demanded that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who holds the Home portfolio should apologize and resign from his post. As the slogan got louder, the leader of the House Patnaik chose to leave the House within a minute.
Though the Speaker tried to carry out the question hour and asked Energy Minister Arun Kumar Sahu to reply the first question, the Congress members created pandemonium in support of their demand.
Amidst ruckus, Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat unable to transact the business, was forced to adjourn the House at 10.32 am till 12 noon and then from 12.01 pm to 3 pm. The House could hardly meet for three minutes during the pre lunch session in the process.