Odisha: House in limbo over Mamita murder case

BHUBANESWAR: The stalemate in the assembly continued for the seventh successive day since the beginning of the session on December 1 over the opposition demand to sack minister of state (home) Dibya Shankar Mishra for his alleged involvement in the murder of Kalahandi teacher Mamita Meher.
An all-party meeting convened by speaker Surya Narayan Patro on Wednesday once again failed to break the deadlock as the opposition stuck to its stand on the junior home minister."We are talking to all the parties for a solution," the speaker said.
Moments after the assembly reconvened for the day, the BJP and Congress members once again raised slogans seeking Mishra's resignation. The BJD members too joined the bandwagon, showing placards with photographs of Mamita's murder accused Gobinda Sahu's advocate Mohan Lal Sharma with BJP leaders - Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, MP Basanta Panda and former state BJP chief K V Singhdeo. The speaker first adjourned the House till 11.30 am and then till 4 pm and finally for the day.
BJD MLA Pratap Keshari Deb said the party tried to highlight BJP's double standards. "It is stalling the House over Mamita's murder while it has engaged one of its party members (advocate Sharma) to fight for the accused, Gobinda Sahu," Deb said.
The opposition blamed the ruling party for creating ruckus and not allowing the assembly to run. Opposition chief whip and BJP MLA Mohan Majhi said it is probably a rare occasion when the ruling party is staging protest inside the assembly, time and again. They had earlier staged protest over the Centre's rejection of the state's demand to announce Paika Bidroha as the first war of independence.
Congress legislature party leader Narasingha Mishra said it would be wrong to blame the opposition for the chaos because of two reasons. "The government has completely ignored the opposition demand for a debate on Mamita's murder and the BJD itself is stalling the house on various pretexts. Had the government been serious about running the assembly, it should have allowed a debate on Mamita murder case so that other issues of importance could have been raised after that. The murder should not be seen in isolation as it is one of the glaring examples of rising crime against women and shielding of the accused by the government," he said.
Narasingha said the all-party meeting failed because the government is in no mood to concede even an inch.