Suspended Cong MLAs taken into custody while trying to enter Assembly building

Bhubaneswar: The suspended Congress MLAs were forcibly taken into custody by police after a scuffle with security personnel at the main gate of the Odisha Assembly here Wednesday, a party leader alleged.

Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena said the Congress leaders and activists were detained for breach of prohibitory order imposed near the Assembly building.

The Congress MLAs scuffled with the security personnel when they tried to enter the Assembly premises. As they were suspended from the Assembly for seven days on charge of 'indiscipline', the police prevented their entry, but the Congress legislators argued that they have the right to enter the Assembly premises, if not the House.

Congress Legislature Party leader Ram Chandra Kadam said: "We wanted to enter the Assembly premises to stage a dharna near the Mahatma Gandhi statue to protest the suspension of 12 of the 14 Congress MLAs on Tuesday. However, the police did not allow us entry into the Assembly premises. This is a gross violation of the privilege of elected peoples' representatives."

Congress MLAs Taraprasad Bahinipati and Ramesh Jena, who were not suspended on Tuesday, also had a tough time entering the Assembly premises. However, they were finally allowed entry. "We were not allowed to enter the House. We have to fight to enter the Assembly," said Bahinipati.

Congress MP from Koraput, Saptagiri Ulaka, alleged that he was manhandled by the security personnel when entering the Assembly. "I will take up the matter with the Lok Sabha Speaker. Have I broken the law? I have been waiting for an entry for about one hour, but they are preventing my entry," Ulaka told reporters at the Assembly gate.

Earlier, the suspended Congress MLAs marched to the Assembly in a rally by beating gongs and cymbals. The scuffle occurred when the Congress activists also wanted to enter the Assembly premises.

The tension escalated when the BJD MLAs also wanted to go outside the Assembly premises after staging a walkout from the House. They too had a scuffle with the security personnel. However, the BJD MLAs including senior members like RP Swain and Arun Kumar Sahoo, forcibly opened the gate and came out of the premises.

"We are going to offer tribute at the statue of B R Ambedkar at the AG Chhak. But, the police did not open gates. This is injustice," said senior BJD MLA Ganeswar Behera, adding that the party has been agitating in the Assembly demanding proper reservation for ST, SC and OBC candidates in education and jobs.

"The BJP government has denied justice to the ST, SC and OBCs, who constitute 95 per cent of the state's population," he said.

Late on Tuesday night, the security personnel evicted the suspended Congress MLAs from the Assembly. They were staging a dharna in the well of the House overnight protesting the suspension order. They had to spend the night on the street at Master Canteen, a Congress leader said.

"We were manhandled and forcibly evicted from the Assembly at the dead of the night. This is illegal and undemocratic," alleged party MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati, one of the two Congress MLAs who escaped suspension on Tuesday.

Odisha Congress president Bhakta Charan Das and AICC in-charge of Odisha, Ajay Kumar Lallu are sitting on dharna in the Master Canteen area on Wednesday protesting the suspension of 12 party MLAs.

Kadam alleged that the party MLAs during their stay in the Assembly, were denied food, water and even toilet facility. Kadam was injured in the Assembly on Tuesday night as a security man slammed the door on his hand. He sustained injury on his finger.

The suspension of 12 Congress MLAs also triggered a face-off outside the Assembly on Tuesday night as police prevented the entry of senior Congress leaders to Assembly premises. The police later took the leaders to reserve ground and released them later.

The DCP said Congress leaders and activists were taken on preventive arrest and released at the reserve ground.