Chaos in Odisha!12 Congress MLAs Suspended from Assembly
Odisha Assembly Erupts as 12 Congress MLAs Suspended
Chaos engulfed the Odisha Assembly Tuesday when Speaker Surama Padhy suspended 12 of 14 Congress MLAs for seven days over “unruly conduct,” escalating a simmering battle over women’s safety.
The BJP-backed move, sparked by Congress storming the Well and banging gongs, followed demands for a probe into 36,420 missing women since 2020—claims the ruling party brushed off as a distraction.
The suspended MLAs, barring seniors Tara Prasad Bahinipati and Ramesh Jena, staged a sit-in at the Assembly’s Gandhi statue, while Youth Congress clashed with police outside, decrying “autocracy.” Inside, the House adjourned twice amid uproar, with BJD MLAs joining the fray over BJP’s Jayanarayan Mishra’s “Koshal merger” jab.
Congress’s Sofia Firdous vowed a March 27 gherao, slamming the government’s “failure cover-up.”
The suspensions, moved by BJP Chief Whip Saroj Kumar Pradhan, echo Karnataka’s recent Congress-led suspension of 18 BJP MLAs, hinting at tit-for-tat politics. Bahinipati’s earlier March 11 ban for scuffling with Mishra had already set a fiery precedent.
With BJP’s 74 seats dominating the 147-member House against BJD’s 51 and Congress’s 14, Odisha’s first BJP regime since June 2024 faces mounting opposition heat—and a restless public—as tempers flare.
