Date:27/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/27/stories/2008112756981000.htm

National

BJP MLAs disrupt Assembly proceedings in Orissa

Special Correspondent

They demanded arrest of Lakshmanananda Saraswati’s killers

The legislators rushed to the well and
raised slogans
The Speaker adjourned the proceedings
till Thursday

BHUBANESWAR: Bharatiya Janata Party legislators created an embarrassing situation for Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik by disrupting proceedings in the Assembly on Wednesday to highlight their demand for the immediate arrest of the killers of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati.

Despite the fact that the BJP was a member of the ruling alliance, more than a dozen legislators rushed to the well and raised slogans. They criticised the government for its failure to arrest those involved in the case. They did not pay heed to requests by Speaker Kishore Mohanty and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty to return to their seats.

Proceedings adjourned

The Speaker had to adjourn the proceedings twice as chaos prevailed, with the MLAs sticking to their stand and entering the well repeatedly. He adjourned the proceedings till Thursday as the situation did not improve. In the pandemonium, legislators of the opposition Congress also rushed to the well, demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister. Opposition leader and veteran Congressman J.B. Patnaik said the Chief Minister should step down as the BJP had lost faith in the government.

Fissures in the ruling BJD-BJP alliance had come out in the open on Tuesday, with the BJP boycotting the joint legislature party meeting called by Mr. Patnaik. Leader of the BJP legislature party Biswabhushan Harichandan had told journalists that the party was not satisfied with the action taken by the police in the case pertaining to the killing of the VHP leader. The party was also unhappy over the issue of conversion. Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four others were killed at an ashram in Kandhamal district on August 23. The incident had led to widespread anti-Christian violence in the the State.

The Crime Branch of the State police is investigating into the murder, and three suspected Maoists have been arrested. The BJP, however, has been towing the line of the VHP and other saffron outfits and expressing its displeasure over the progress in the investigation on the ground that many of the accused had not been arrested so far.