BJP running away from answering questions on women's safety: Cong on Odisha Assembly chaos

New Delhi, Mar 11 (PTI) The Congress accused the ruling BJP in Odisha of creating chaos in the state Assembly on Tuesday to avoid questions about missing women and children and wondered for how long the government will run away from the issue.

The Odisha Assembly on Tuesday witnessed ugly scenes as members of the BJP and opposition Congress scuffled in the well of the House prompting Speaker Surama Padhy to adjourn the proceedings till noon.

Tension erupted in the House when senior BJP lawmaker Jaynarayan Mishra rushed towards Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati, who was standing in front of Urban Development Minister K C Mohapatra when the minister was replying to a question.

Posting a video of the ruckus in the assembly, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "In response to the disappearance of 44,000 women, the BJP government of Odisha resorted to pushing and pulling in the assembly so that it could avoid questions in the House. The BJP government has devised a great way to avoid questions." "But for how long will this government run away from questions? It will have to answer. The House was adjourned for the third day today amid jostling and uproar," Ramesh said in his post in Hindi.

The Congress, on its official X handle, alleged that when questions were asked to the BJP government on the serious issue of the disappearance of women and children, its MLAs started pushing and shoving in the assembly.

"This shameful act of BJP shows that they want to avoid questions by disrupting the House. No matter how much BJP tries, they will have to answer to the people of Odisha. The BJP government and the Chief Minister will have to explain why women and children are not safe in the state?" the party said.

The opposition BJD and Congress members were protesting on separate issues.

While the BJD members demanded a statement from Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi over Mishra's remark referring to the merger of erstwhile Koshala with Odisha in 1936 as a "historical mistake", Congress MLAs agitated over the alleged increase in the crimes against women in the state.

This was the second day that the House witnessed turmoil. PTI ASK ASK RT RT