The issue of a rice mill owner being allegedly threatened by a Bharatiya Janata Party leader dominated the zero hour of the special Vidhan Sabha session on Tuesday, the concluding day.
The leader of the Opposition Indira Hridayesh raised the matter while giving a notice under section 310 and demanding a debate on it. She said that the BJP leader had threatened the rice mill owner of dire consequences in case he refused to cough up Rs two lakh as protection money to ensure his security. “When he refused to budge the sale tax department officials were unleashed on him,” she said while producing an audio that recorded the conversation between the BJP leader and the rice miller. Taking a swipe at the BJP government, she said that while vowing repeatedly to rid the state of corruption, it was sitting idle when an MlA of the ruling party was indulging in the same blatantly. She said that the ruling party should be ashamed of what a leader belonging to their camp has done. She insisted that the House must have a debate on it with the matter having left the trading community insecure.
MlA Karan Mahra echoed the same feeling and said that a detailed discussion was warranted considering the seriousness of the matter.
The treasury bench reacted sharply, saying that the previous Congress regime was notorious for such things. The angry opposition MlAs stormed into the well of the House while throwing a dare to the treasury bench to refer the matter to CBI in case they thought that the charge was false.
At this point, the State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant intervened and said that the notice did not deserve to be accepted with the member having neither mentioned any specific date nor the name of the alleged victim. “However, the House has considered it and following inquiries, has found that one Rajendra Rana lodged an FIR on April 21, 2017 in Khatima and withdrew the same on April 22.
While withdrawing the complainant, he said that the BJP leader against whom the complaint was lodged was his friend. He also mentioned the audio that went viral while saying that he was not in a mood to pursue the case,” Pant said. Finally, the Speaker rejected the petition.