BHUBANESWAR: Opposition Congress on Wednesday staged a walkout from the Assembly accusing Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of politicising the hostage crisis.The Chief Minister’s interview to television channels, the previous day, that the Centre is not showing any urgency in the hostage crisis sparked off angry reaction from the Congress members.The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Union Home Ministry are not displaying urgency in the hostage crisis, Naveen said and added that SM Krishna did not even attend to his call initially.Reacting to the Chief Minister, Chidambaram said he was very disappointed. Naveen, however, did not comment on Chidambaram’s reaction to his statement. “I am not here for a battle of words with Chidambaram,” he told mediapersons. Naveen said the release of the Italian hostages is a priority to him.Referring to the interview, Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh said, in the Assembly, despite getting all support from Opposition parties, people at large and also the Centre, the Chief Minister had been blaming the latter without any reason.“Is it not politics by the Chief Minister over the hostage crisis?” he questioned. “We have been supporting the Government over the hostage crisis. The Congress will not even hesitate to pass a resolution appealing to the Maoists to release the Italian hostages,” he said.Quoting Chidambaram, Singh said the Centre was “disappointed” over the remarks of the Chief Minister. “This is not the time for such a political statement when the Prime Minister has also expressed concern over the hostage crisis,” he said.“Unless the Chief Minister clarifies his reported statement, we cannot cooperate with the Government,” Singh said before staging a walkout.“Let the Chief Minister make a statement to clear his stand,” BJP Legislature Party Leader K V Singhdeo said. Congress Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan said it was unfortunate that the Chief Minister made such remarks.Both Congress and BJP urged the Speaker to adjourn the House till the Chief Minister issued clarification. Speaker Pradip Amat, however, allowed the House to debate on the budgetary demand of the Rural Development Department.An all-party meeting convened by the Speaker to discuss the form in which the hostage crisis could be discussed in the House remained inconclusive. The Opposition leaders demanded that the Chief Minister should clarify his statement in the afternoon session.Earlier, Harichandan and KV Singhdeo had said the House should appeal to the Maoists to release the Italians through a resolution.
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