Odisha Assembly begins on a stormy note, House adjourned

Bhubaneswar, Sep 21 (PTI) The monsoon session of theOdisha Assembly today began on a stormy note with the rulingBJD members creating ruckus over Mahanadi and Polavaramissues, leading to adjournment of the House till 3 PM. As soon as the House assembled for the first day ofthe session, the ruling party members shouted slogans againstthe Centre and Chhattisgarh government over the Mahanadi andPolavaram issues. Unable to run the House, Speaker Niranjan Pujariadjourned the House till 3 PM. BJD member Byamakesh Ray was the first to stand on hisseat and shout on top of his voice allegedly at a time whenthe National Anthem was being played in the House. Though Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra ofCongress was seen trying to speak something, he was notallowed by the Speaker. Pujari immediately adjourned the Houseafter the National Anthem. "The ruling party has dishonoured the National Anthemat the direction of the Chief Minister. The Leader of theHouse (CM) was very much present at the House when his partymember shouted during playing of the National Anthem," Mishraalleged outside the House. "Unfortunately, the Speaker also did not caution thetreasury bench member for his conduct," he told reporters. The ruling party members, however, rejected theallegation and claimed that there was no disrespect to theNational Anthem. "Yes, a ruling party member was giving slogan in theHouse. But, it was much before the National Anthem wasplayed," BJD spokesman Amar Prasad Satpathy said. Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said, "All ofus have highest regards for the National Anthem. There is nopoint to disrespect the National Anthem." As soon as the House was adjourned, the ruling partymembers including ministers marched to the Raj Bhavan andsubmitted a memorandum with Governor S C Jamir. "We have raised the issue relating to violation of lawof the land in regard to Mahanadi water dispute as well asPolavaram project," the Industries minister said. The ruling party held both the previous UPA governmentand the present NDA government responsible for the violationof law in the Mahanadi and Polavaram issues. PTI AAM NNDIPLNS