Suspended Congress MLAs Forcefully Evicted from Odisha Assembly Amid Protests

Bhubaneswar: The 12 suspended Congress MLAs, who had been protesting in the Well of the Odisha Assembly, were forcefully evicted from the House late Tuesday night, a party leader alleged. The MLAs were reportedly dropped near Congress Bhawan after spending the night on the street at Master Canteen, sparking outrage among party members.

Taraprasad Bahinipati, one of the two Congress MLAs not suspended, accused the authorities of illegally and undemocratically evicting the lawmakers in the dead of the night. The party’s state president, Bhakta Charan Das, along with AICC in-charge of Odisha, Ajay Kumar Lallu, staged a dharna in the Master Canteen area on Wednesday in protest against the suspensions. Meanwhile, Congress Legislature Party leader Rama Chandra Kadam claimed the MLAs were denied basic facilities like food, water, and toilets during their protest inside the Assembly, and he himself sustained an injury after a security personnel slammed a door on his hand.

The suspended MLAs had been protesting the rise in crimes against women in Odisha and demanding a House Committee to investigate the issue. Their suspension led to a tense standoff outside the Assembly as police prevented Congress leaders from entering the premises. The police later took the leaders into preventive custody and released them after some time. Congress leaders have vowed to continue their fight both inside and outside the Assembly until their demands for an investigation into the atrocities on women in Odisha are addressed.