Bhubaneswar: Opposition parties continued to disrupt assembly proceedings for the fifth straight day since Wednesday over farmers’ issues, forcing Speaker Surama Padhy to repeatedly adjourn proceedings.Moments after the House reconvened for Question Hour at 10:30 am, BJD members stormed into the well, displaying placards alleging that farmers were being forced into distress sale of paddy due to the govt’s failure to lift their stock. Congress members joined the protest. The Speaker adjourned the House until 11:30 am.
The protest continued after the House reassembled. During this time, Congress legislature party leader Rama Chandra Kadam raised the Epstein files issue. BJP MLAs Irasis Acharya, Ashok Mohanty and Sanatan Bijuli countered him and sought expunging of his remarks. The Speaker later adjourned proceedings until 4 pm.Acharya said the opposition was looking for excuses to stall proceedings. BJP MLA Om Prakash Mishra said the opposition was wasting valuable Assembly time funded by public money instead of raising issues of public interest.Outside the Assembly, Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati said the ruling party did not appear serious about running the House. BJD MLA Sarada Prasanna Jena said that despite chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s assurance that there would be no weight deduction in paddy on quality grounds, such deductions continued and the govt was not addressing the issue.Until Saturday, the House remained tense over the mandi crisis, with both BJD and Congress alleging that poor management of market yards meant for paddy procurement by the state govt was pushing farmers into distress paddy sales. When the House met on Monday, BJD continued its protest on the mandi issue, while Congress turned its attention to the “Epstein file” controversy.
