The State Assembly continued to witness pandemonium for the fourth consecutive day as the members of both Opposition and ruling parties refused to budge on their demands on Tuesday.
While the opposition BJP and Congress created ruckus over irregularities in paddy procurement, the ruling BJD demanded an apology from BJP MLA Subash Chandra Panigrahi for undermining the dignity of the Assembly by attempting to commit suicide by consuming sanitiser in the House over the paddy procurement issues.
Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro adjourned the House multiple times and then till Wednesday in view of the continued uproar.Even an all-party meeting called by the Speaker failed to resolve the deadlock. The opposition demanded a statement from Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the paddy procurement issue. As soon as the House assembled for the day, Opposition members created kept demanding a debate on mandis and non-procurement of paddy.
On the other hand, members of Treasury Bench remained adamant on their demand that MLA Subhas Panigrahi must tender an apology for attempting suicide in the House.
However, Leader of Opposition Pradipta Naik (BJP) said Panigrahi would not apologise under any circumstances until the issues of farmers are resolved.
“We (all 22 BJP MLAs) are ready to kneel down and apologise only after the paddy of farmers piled at different mandis across the State is procured,” Naik said.