Congress MLAs in Orissa observed a “black day” on Saturday as the Assembly took up the appropriation bill in the absence of Opposition whose boycott of the house entered the 13th day demanding dismissal of two ministers allegedly involved in multi-crore coal scam.
Slamming the BJD government for leaving two tainted ministers scot-free, Congress legislators continued their sit-in near Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in assembly premises even as BJP members kept away from the proceedings of the house.
Wearing black badges and arm bands, Congress MLAs said it was a black day in the history of Orissa Assembly as the BJD government kept the Opposition members out of the house in an “anti-democratic and unconstitutional manner” while tabling the appropriation bill.
Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh termed the all-party meeting called by the speaker on Friday to resolve the impasse as an “eye-wash” as no effort was made by the government to nail housing and urban minister Badrinarayan Patra and school and mass education minister Pratap Jena in coal scam.
Congress legislators also carried placards and banners displaying anti-government slogans, while senior BJP leaders accused the Naveen Patnaik government of being insincere and non-serious in probing the coal scam in order to end the boycott of the Assembly.