Opposition boycott Governor's address in Orissa Assembly

Bhubaneswar, Mar 21 (UNI) To protest against Speaker Maheswar Mohanty presiding the House, the entire Opposition, barring the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha members, today boycotted the address of Orissa Governor in the Assembly.

As soon as Governor Rameswar Thakur entered the podium to address the members, the Opposition started shouting slogans and trooped into the well to disrupt the proceedings.

The house soon witnessed pandemonium and Leader of Opposition J B Pattnaik was seen reading a statement amid din. Some opposition members even tore the speech of the governor and threw them in the well of the House.

After Mr Patnaik finished his speech, Opposition Congress, CPI, CPI(M) and OGP members staged a noisy walkout to lodge their protest against the Speaker.

The Congress had earlier announced that they would not attend any proceedings of the House chaired by Mr Mohanty.

Later, Mr Patnaik told newspersons that they have all regard for the Governor and added that he should not share the podium with a Speaker against whom a case had been filed for violation of the code of conduct.

Incidentally, Mr Mohanty had been indicted by the State Election Commission for violating the code of conduct during the just- concluded panchayat elections.

Mr Pattnaik also said the governor's speech, prepared by a ''corrupt and defamed'' government, had destroyed the democratic practice in the state.

On the JMM member not joining the Opposition boycott, he said there was some communication gap which led to the confusion among the JMM members.

Later, the Opposition members entered the house as soon as the Governor completed his speech.

UNI