Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Legislative Assembly on Friday witnessed a pandemonium as the Opposition parties demanded entry of media persons to press gallery to cover the proceedings of the House.
Congress and BJP MLAs gathered at the well of the house and shouted slogans, disrupting the proceedings
Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukh adjourned till 11:30 am and convened an all-party meeting to resolve the matter.
Raising the issue during zero hours Congress Chief Whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati demanded the Speaker to lift the restriction and allow media persons to enter the press gallery to cover the proceedings.
He said the members should sit in the house and not in the visitor’s gallery and the press gallery. Soon the Congress members rushed to the well and shouted slogans in favour of their demand.
The BJP members also joined the congress members forcing the speaker to convene an all-party meeting by adjourning the house. BJP Chief Whip Mohan Majhi said the media persons could not report the proceedings of the house correctly as they were asked to sit in a different room.
Other members including Jayanarayan Mishra from the BJP, Santosh Singh Saluja (Congress) and Laxman Munda of the CPI (M) also demanded that the Speaker allow the media persons into the press gallery and ensure normal functioning of the assembly like earlier.
Keeping in mind the safety of members in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the new seating arrangements for MLAs and journalists were finalised at an all-party meeting, said the Speaker.
Only a few days are left for the current session of the Assembly to end. A decision on lifting the restrictions on the media would be taken in the next session of the House considering the situation prevailing at that time, he added.
