The opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) is likely to move a no-confidence motion against the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government when the Assembly meets for a special single-day session on August 24.
The UDF had given notice for a no-confidence motion for the session scheduled for July 27. However, the session was called off citing the rise in COVID-19 cases in Thiruvananthapuram.
The opposition front will be giving notice for a similar motion, stating that it has lost trust in the CPM-led government for various reasons, to be discussed on August 24, Congress legislator V D Satheesan told Onmanorama.
The notice for moving the motion is likely to be given on Thursday itself after the governor summons the session. The state cabinet on Wednesday submitted a recommendation to the governor to call the session.
Satheesan had given notice for the earlier motion also. The trigger for the move, despite no chance of winning the motion, was the Thiruvanathapuram gold smuggling case which led to the suspension of senior bureaucrat M Sivasankar from the post of principal secretary to the chief minister. The opposition's major demand is that the chief minister's office come clean on the cloud of suspicion all over it.
The UDF is planning to make the debate on the no-confidence motion a launchpad of its campaign for the local body polls due in a couple of months and the Assembly elections due next years.
Doubt over motion against Speaker
The UDF had moved a motion to remove Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan also for the July 27 session for his alleged links with Swapna Suresh, a prime accused in the gold smuggling case. However, this time the opposition may be unable to make such a move as rules make it mandatory to give notice for such a motion against the speaker 14 days in advance. Even if the governor issues summons for the session on Thursday (August 13), there will be only 11 days to the session.
The notice for the motion against the government has to be given only three days in advance.
The UDF will take a call on whether to move a motion against the Speaker on Wednesday.
Number game
With only 43 members opposed to the 91 on treasury benches, the motion is sure to fail.
In the 140-member House, ruling LDF has 91 members while the UDF has 43 members. The UDF had 45 members including the five belonging to the Kerala Congress (M). However, the UDF recently expelled the Jose K Mani faction of the Kerala Congress (M) which has two MLAs. The stance of the two MLAs – N Jayaraj and Roshy Augustine – during the voting on the motion will offer hints about the faction's future plans. The previous session was called off before they made their stance clear on the no-confidence motion.
The BJP has one MLA (O Rajagopal) and one seat is occupied by independent legislator P C George. George had earlier demanded the resignation of the chief minister following the gold smuggling scandal.
Two seats – Kuttanad and Chavara – are vacant following the death of Thomas Chandy and N Vijayan Pillai, both LDF MLAs.
