Bhubaneswar: Two BJP MLAs including Opposition chief whip Mohan Majhi were suspended Thursday from the Odisha Assembly till the end of the current session for allegedly throwing ‘daal’ (pulses) at Speaker Pramila Mallik’s podium. The other BJP lawmaker who was suspended is Mukesh Mahaling.
Mohan Majhi rejected the allegation and claimed that he had not thrown ‘daal’ at the Speaker’s podium. He, however, said the BJP members had brought some ‘daal’ to the House for gifting it to Mallik. Meanwhile Mallik said the decision to suspend the two MLAs was taken as per the rules of the House. “I do not know what he (Majhi) says. They have been suspended till the end of the ongoing session,” Mallik informed. The current session of the Odisha Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end October 4.
Majhi meanwhile asserted that action against him was unjustified. “The action against me is totally unjustified as I did not throw ‘daal’ at the Speaker’s podium. The allegation against me is completely motivated. The Speaker suspended me without examining the CCTV footage,” Majhi told reporters.
Majhi also challenged the Speaker and the ruling party to prove the allegation against him. The Opposition chief whip alleged that he was targeted by the government because he put the administration in a tight spot by placing fact-based evidence.
The other suspended BJP MLA, Mukesh Mahaling, said, “I did not throw ‘daal’ at the Speaker’s podium. We brought the ‘daal’ to gift it to the Speaker as she is fond of pulses.”
Mahaling alleged that Mallik, as the former Women and Child Development (WCD) minister, was entangled in a ‘daal’ scam, and ‘we brought the pulses to gift it to her’.
The BJP members brought the pulses to the House in a polythene bag to draw the attention of the Speaker whom they accused of not being impartial while running the House.
Earlier in the day, ruckus started following the remark of a ruling BJD MLA, who during the Zero Hour, had urged the Opposition members to come to the House with good ‘mental health’. The statement was made by Nayagarh MLA Arun Kumar Sahoo, who came down heavily on the leader of the opposition (LoP), Jaynarayan Mishra of BJP, and Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra after the Opposition targeted Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s private secretary without taking the officer’s name.
Protesting the words used by the BJD lawmaker, the BJP members trooped into the Well of the House and demanded immediate expunge of the words ‘mental health disorder’ from the Assembly record. Speaker Mallik said she was examining the matter.