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Deputy Speaker in eye of a storm

BHUBANESWAR: A day after a dowry harassment case was registered against Deputy Speaker of State Assembly Prahallad Dora and his family members, the opposition Congress on Friday stalled the Assembly proceedings demanding immediate resignation of Mr. Dora.

As soon as the House assembled for the day at 10.30 a.m., Opposition Chief Whip Satya Bhushan Sahu demanded that Mr. Dora should step down as Deputy Speaker in view of the registration of the case.

He submitted that it would not be appropriate for Mr. Dora to occupy the post after a case had been registered on the basis of a complaint filed by his daughter-in-law Smita Majhi, he said.

Ms. Majhi alleged in her complaint that her father-in-law, husband, and sister-in-law had tortured her for dowry. Mr. Dora, however, had denied the charges terming them baseless.

Mr. Sahu urged Speaker Kishore Kumar Mohanty to adjourn the proceedings till Mr. Dora resigned from his post.

When a Congress legislator joined Mr. Sahu to demand Mr. Dora’s resignation, a Bharatiya Janata Party member opposed him saying that Mr. Dora had been made victim of a conspiracy.

At this point, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty said that the Congress members should allow the House to function normally and the Speaker would allow them to speak on the issue after question hour. The law would take its own course with regard to the case against Mr. Dora, he added.

Senior Congress legislator Narasingha Mishra, however, argued that since the allegations were of serious nature the Deputy Speaker should resign to ensure an impartial probe into the charges.

The Speaker, however, said that it would be not be right to discuss the issue about the Deputy Speaker.

“Let the law take its own course and we must move on with the proceedings,” he said. But the Congress members rushed to the well and raised slogans against the government and demanded that Mr. Dora resign to maintain the dignity of the House.

As the Congress legislators did not pay any heed to his plea, Mr. Mohanty adjourned the House till 11.30 a.m.

Since there was no improvement in the situation when the House reassembled, the Speaker again adjourned the proceedings for another 30 minutes and then till Monday.

A decision on the issue would be taken at the Business

Advisory Committee later in the day, Mr. Mohanty said.

The Committee that met later in the day decided that the matter should be referred to the Ethics Committee of the Assembly.

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