Uproar in Odisha Assembly over Law Minister's resignation
Bhubaneswar, Mar 15 : Odisha Assembly Speaker P K Amat was today forced to adjourn the House thrice as the Opposition Congress members rushed to the well,shouted slogans and disrupted proceedings demanding arrest of Law Minister Raghunath Mohanty in the dowry case filed by his daughter-in-law.
Mr Mohanty resigned from the Council of Ministers this morning after his daughter-in-law filed a dowry torture case against him, his son, wife, daughter and son-in-law late last night.
The Speaker first adjouned the House at 1037 hrs till 1130 hrs and again from 1144 hrs to 1245 hrs and finally for lunch at 1246 hrs to 1500 hrs following uproar by the Congress members.
Trouble began as soon as the House assembled for the day at 1030 hrs to take up the question answer business. As Health and Family Welfare Minister Damodar Rout started replying to a question of Naba Kishore Das(Cong), Congress members who were already on their foot said private television channels were showing that Urban Development and Law Minister Raghunath Mohanty had resigned.
They said the minister was not present in the House. Since the assembly is in session it is not known whether the minister has resigned or not.
Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh asked the Speaker to direct the minister or Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to make a statement and apprise the House of the position.
The Speaker, however, did not pay any heed to the demand and went ahead with the business drawing loud protest from the Congress members. This forced him to adjourn the House at 1037 hrs till 1130hrs.