Odisha Legislative Assembly’s monsoon session had a stormy beginning with the House on Saturday witnessing uproar over suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s derogatory remarks on Prophet Mohammed.

A Supreme Court bench on Friday castigated Sharma for inciting communal sentiments across the country with her derogatory remarks on the Prophet. The court said that her “loose tongue” had incited emotions and she was “single-handedly” responsible for what is happening in the country.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, senior Congress MLA Narasingha Mishra pointed to the Supreme Court’s reprimand of Nupur Sharma. He also sought to know chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s stance on the issue.

“Nupur was the spokesperson of the BJP. Even the Supreme Court reprimanded her yesterday and criticised the BJP indirectly,” Mishra said.

“We should take the Supreme Court’s observation seriously. Such incidents may occur in Odisha too. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik should come up with a statement to put forth his stand on the issue,” Mishra added.

Later outside the building, Mishra said: “Following the Supreme Court’s observation, the Prime Minister and home minister have no right to continue in power. They should tender their resignations.”

As soon as Mishra raised the issue, BJP legislature party leader Bishnupada Sethi opposed it and engaged in a brawl with Mishra over the top court direction.

“Nupur Sharma is not a member of the Odisha Assembly. Why should the issue be raised on this platform,” said Sethi, and started raising the issue of the exodus of Kashmir Pandits from the Valley.

The BJP also targeted Congress stating that the Congress government in Rajasthan has not tendered its resignation after the murder of a tailor in Udaipur.

“Did the chief minister resign after the incident?” asked Sethi.

Uproar followed when MLAs of both the BJP and the Congress started raising slogans against each other.

As the ruckus continued, Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukh was forced to adjourn the House repeatedly. The Speaker also maintained that as the person concerned (Nupur Sharma) was not a member of the House, no discussion should be held in this regard.

However, normalcy was restored in the House in the afternoon and finance minister Niranjan Pujari presented the state’s Rs 2 lakh crore full-fledged budget for the year 2022-23.

Reacting to the state budget, Naveen said?: “The state budget for the year 2022-23 presented today is a progressive, pro-poor and development-oriented Budget. The Budget size has increased to Rs.2 lakh crore,”

The monsoon session will conclude on August 4.