Congress to move Governor

BHUBANESWAR: The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) has decided to bring to the notice of Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare the abrupt manner in which the winter session of the Assembly was adjourned sine die without taking the Opposition into confidence.Criticising the State Government for the undemocratic step, Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh said that the House was adjourned even though there was several urgent business pending before it. Singh alleged that despite repeated demands, the State Government did not table the special report of the Lokpal on the land acquisition for the controversial Vedanta university near Puri in the Assembly. Majority of the Congress MLAs alleged that panchayat election was made a ploy to avoid discussion of controversial issues in the house.However, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Amar Prasad Satpathy maintained that a majority of Congress MLAs were also in favour of adjourning the House for panchayat polls. Satpathy had initiated the process for the adjournment of the House in the morning session on Saturday.Satpathy criticised the Leader of the Opposition for not attending the valedictory session of the House. The House went without transacting any business for seven minutes only waiting for him, but he did not turn up, he said.After government chief whip Rabinarayan Pani moved the motion for suspending rule-11 for curtailing the sitting of the House from the mandatory 60 days, the Congress boycotted the House.A majority of Congress MLAs, however, took strong exception to the support extended by party MLA Santosh Singh Saluja for adjourning the House for panchayat polls. Saluja boycotted the valedictory session but before it he supported the demand from BJD members to adjourn the House.Sources said he took the stand without informing either the Leader of the Opposition or the Congress chief whip. The Leader of the Opposition said that the high command will be apprised of the stand taken by Saluja in the House.This is not the first time Saluja openly differed from other members of the CLP.