Thaindian News

Bhubaneswar, Dec 14 (IANS) A Congress legislator Tuesday jumped on the Orissa assembly speaker’s table and lay down, demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over a land row.Speaker Pradip Amat then suspended the question hour. He had earlier adjourned the house many times after Congress members created a scene over the decision to set up Vedanta University.

The university is to come up near the Konark-Puri marine drive.

In November, a division bench of the Orissa High Court quashed the land acquisition for the proposed university and told the authorities to return the acquired land to the owners.

Chief Minister Patnaik had said his government may appeal against the high court judgment.

Trouble began during question hour when Congress members trooped to the spaker’s podium, shouting slogans against Patnaik.

Some attempted to climb on to the podium. Although the assembly staff held them back, Rajendra Chatria managed to jump on the desk and lay down.

The chief minister called the conduct of Congress members “unfortunate”.

The 24-day winter session, which started Nov 23, is scheduled to run till Dec 22. The opposition has been seeking Patnaik’s resignation since the start of the session.