Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
Orissa Assembly could not proceed with its normal business on November 27 as sex escapade of a Minister belonging to BJP, allegedly the Revenue Minister Man Mohan Samal, as exposed by a section of media, shocked the House and the Speaker did not allow the Minister to react orally. Give a written statement, he directed Samal, who received the direction and left the House. He was allegedly spotted while fornicating with a woman in a room of the official guesthouse of Government of Orissa at New Delhi and the matter had allegedly attracted attention of the guesthouse personnel, as it is they who had to force open the lock of the room after the information rocked its corridors.
But in the news of sex escapade, Samal is not the only occupier of media space. Two other Ministers, a male and a female, have allegedly been caught in camera in liaison during their visit to Mumbai and the adventure written on CD is well in circulation tarnishing the image of the House, alleged the frontbenchers of the Opposition. They alleged that the Blue CD has blackened the face of the Assembly and hence they demanded that the Speaker should summon the Chief Minister into the Hall, as he was not seen on his chair, to ensure that he must make a statement depicting how his government reacts to such offending scenarios.
The Speaker could not proceed with the business and repeated adjournments having failed to develop normalcy, adjourned the House till the next day.
But yesterday the House was stopped to proceed by the BJP members themselves even though they constitute the coalition government with BJD, in resounding protests against the government’s blatant failure to arrest the assailants of Hindutwa activist Laxmanananda. They had boycotted the pre-session Joint Legislative Party meeting of the previous day sending signals of their withdrawal from the coalition on the same ground. But their docile participation today surprised the Opposition that also wanted that the BJP must explain as to why it killed the first day of the session.
Speculations are ripe that to avoid the recording of possible debates over the sex escapades of BJP minister(s) the party of self-proclaimed moralists who acting as moral police enjoy vandalizing Valentine day celebrations had contrived that drama in the Orissa Assembly.