In a significant turn of events in the Odisha Assembly, the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on Thursday urged that the Speaker facilitate the return of items that were reportedly stolen from them. The alleged theft occurred during a ‘dharna’ (sit-in protest) held inside the House in March.
During that month, Congress MLAs had staged a 24-hour dharna in the well of the House, demanding the establishment of a House Committee to investigate the alleged increase in crimes against women within the state.
CLP leader Rama Chandra Kadam, in a letter, to Speaker Surama Padhy stated that gold chains, watches, sunglasses, and even clothing belonging to the Congress legislators were stolen.
During the Assembly session, all Congress MLAs, including the CLP leader, were suspended from the House due to their “unruly” conduct.
“I would like to draw your kind attention to the incident that happened on 26-03-2025 at around 2.30 AM inside the House and what action has been taken so far regarding entry of anti-social elements and theft of gold chain, watch, goggles, pant, shirt and other belongings of the members of our Congress Legislature Party,” Kadam stated in the letter to the Speaker.
The CLP leader also urged Padhy to take swift action to recover the stolen items.
Kadam further stated that despite having previously brought the matter to the Speaker’s attention, the MLAs had not yet recovered their belongings, which led him to write the formal letter.
The MLAs had alleged that the anti-social persons entered the Assembly premises at night and obstructed an MLA’s path to the washroom. One of the Congress legislators also alleged that his fingers were injured when a security guard slammed a door on his hand.
