Bhubaneswar, Mar 25: As many as 12 Congress MLAs were suspended from the Odisha Assembly for misconduct and unruly behaviour for seven days.

Speaker Surama Padhy took the decision as Congress MLAs didn't refrain from creating a ruckus and disrupting business in the House despite repeated requests from her.

The suspended MLAs include Congress Legislature Party Leader Ramachandra Kadam, Ashok Kumar Das, Satyajeet Gamango, Pabitra Saunta, Sagar Charan Das, Nilamadhab Hikaka, Prafulla Chandra Pradhan, Sofia Firdous, Dr CS Raazen Ekka, Mangu Khilla, Dasarathi Gamango and Kadraka Apalaswamy.

The House has failed to transact business for about seven days due to the protests staged by Opposition Congress and BJD MLAs. Congress has been demanding the formation of a House Committee on women's safety. To put pressure on the Speaker, the opposition party kept beating Ghant and Kahali and wore black badges as a daily affair inside the House. Due to noisy scenes, House proceedings continued to be disrupted.

While the government agreed to hold discussions on the issues raised by the opposition, the latter kept creating ruckus, insisting on their demand for the formation of a House Committee.

Issuing the ruling, the Speaker asked the suspended MLA to leave the House at once. She even directed Marshals to drive out the suspended MLAs from the House as the latter continued staging protest.

The Congress has 14 MLAs in the Odisha Assembly. As 12 MLAs have been suspended, two will attend the House for the next seven days. The two Congress MLAs who will participate in the House proceedings are Tara Prasad Bahinipati (Jeypore) and Ramesh Jena (Sanakhemundi).

Notably, Bahinipati was suspended for seven days earlier on the charge of unruly behaviour during the current Budget session.

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