Bhubaneswar, Feb 22 (IANS): For the second consecutive day, opposition BJP and Congress on Wednesday continued to stall proceedings in the Odisha Assembly over the murder of Health Minister Naba Kishore Das.
The Assembly was adjourned thrice throughout the day, including for the day finally.
Even though Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik made a statement in the House on the issue and the Speaker held an all-party meeting, the opposition members continued their protest before the Speaker's podium the entire day.
As soon as the House assembled for the day, BJP and Congress members carrying placards trooped in front to the Speaker's podium and raised slogans against the government, describing the murder of Naba Das as "government sponsored".
Both the parties alleged that there is a deep-rooted conspiracy behind the murder and stated that the Crime Branch has failed to unravel the motive behind the murder till now.
To counter the opposition, the ruling BJD members raised the issue of Centre's negligence towards Odisha.
Leader of Opposition Jayanarayan Mishra (BJP) said: "After 24 days, the Chief Minister wakes up and reads out a piece of paper given by his men. However, he has not uttered a single word on the conspiracy and motive behind the crime."
On the other hand, Congress legislature party leader Narasingha Mishra alleged that the killing of Naba Das was a deep-rooted conspiracy and the state government does not want to unravel the conspiracy behind the crime.
Mishra, who is also a senior lawyer, said the minister might have been murdered due to personal, political and business reasons. But, the Crime Branch is not investigating these angles, he said.
As the Crime Branch is still unable to ascertain the exact reason behind the killing, Mishra demanded investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the supervision of a sitting judge of the Orissa High Court.
Meanwhile, a group of women BJD legislators met Speaker B.K. Arukha and demanded that Mishra should be derecognised as the Leader of Opposition in the assembly, alleging that they are not feeling safe in the House.