The Assembly on Saturday was paralysed over the continued demand by the opposition Congress for the arrest of ex-Minister Raghu Nath Mohanty who had resigned on Friday after his daughter-in-law accused him and his family members of torturing her for dowry.
The House could run for 41 minutes on Friday as the Congress stalled the proceedings time and again, while on Saturday it ran for only 17 minutes. The opposition Congress stepped up its stir in the well of the House insisting that law should take its course and the accused ex-Minister and family be arrested for dowry torture.
The trouble started as the House assembled for the day and the Speaker took up question hour at 10.30 am. The members of the Congress trooped into the well of the House shouting anti-Government slogans for protecting accused ex-Minister Mohanty and his family from arrest by referring the case for investigation to the Human Rights Protection Cell and demanding action to contain the growing atrocities on women. Besides, the demonstrating members also vented their ire against the Speaker for his calculated strategy not to allow adjournment notices for the last five days and particularly on Saturday on the issue of growing atrocities on women.
The Speaker, who had called the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Pratap Keshari Dev to answer the first question, could not run the House due to the uproar and was forced to adjourn it after two minutes at 10.32 am till 3 pm at one go apprehending more fire-works by the Congress members.
later, as the House reassembled in the afternoon at 3 pm, there was no let up in the noisy scenes. The Congress members continued their slogan shouting in the well. They did not listen to the repeated appeal by the Speaker to return to their seats and help cooperate in running the normal business, particularly to participate in the demand for grants relating to the Water Resources Department. The Speaker, however, ensured passing of the demand of grants of Rs 402,688, 78,000 for the Water Resources Department for the fiscal 2013-14 after a unilateral discussion by two ruling party members and the subsequent brief reply by Panchayati Raj Minister Kalpataru Das on behalf of the Chief Minister amid ruckus. The entire process of passing the demand took only around ten minutes.