Thiruvananthapuram: The fourth day of the current Kerala Assembly session was no different. Like on the second and third days, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan guillotined proceedings just 21 minutes into the day after absolute pandemonium prevailed in the House with the opposition trooping into the well of the House shouting slogans, and treasury members, too, threatening to follow suit. This time both the UDF and LDF charged each other with colluding with the Sangh Parivar.
Ironically, the day was curtailed after opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala declared right at the outset that the UDF would cooperate with the assembly proceedings. Chennithala, however, said three UDF MLAs – V S Sivakumar of Congress, N Jayaraj of Kerala Congress (Mani), and Parakkal Abdulla of the Muslim League – would begin an indefinite Satyagraha in front of the Legislative Assembly complex entrance.
Apparently, what provoked the opposition was chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan's response to the Chennithala's declaration that the UDF was ready to cooperate with the assembly proceedings. “I thought the declaration would have come slightly earlier, when your friends had called off their struggle at Sabarimala,” the chief minister said, referring to BJP's decision to shift the agitation to the secretariat. “Now they are fasting in front of the secretariat and you are out here in front of the assembly. That both of you are in this together is as clear as daylight,” Pinarayi Vijayan added. By then the opposition members were up on their feet.
Ramesh Chennithala then got up and returned the compliment. “It was you who gave RSS the freedom to unleash violence at Sabarimala. It was Valsan Thillankeri who was controlling the home department, and not the chief minister. Now we hear that C P Sugathan who had blocked women in Sabarimala has been made the organiser of the 'women's wall' the government is planning. This is downright shameless,” Chennithala said. (C P Sugathan, a right-wing leader, has been made the joint convenor of the Renaissance Women's Wall to be formed across the state on January 1.)
This was the chief minister's turn to get provoked. He got up and said the Congress had ignored even the stand of party president Rahul Gandhi on the Sabarimala issue. “This has once again made it clear that your leader is not Rahul Gandhi but Amit Shah,” he said. Now, Chennithala wanted to respond. The speaker objected. “I cannot allow it to go on and on,” he said. The Opposition rushed to the well shouting slogans. When they started taunting the ruling benches with the names of Thillankeri and Sugathan, the LDF backbenchers moved forward towards the slogan-shouting UDF members. Minister A K Saseendran was seen blocking them at the edge where the well begins.
Soon enough a note was seen passed from the chief minister to the speaker. A minute later, the House was adjourned for the day.
