Thiruvananthapuram: Another political row is brewing in the state after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that the opposition raised offensive slogans in the Assembly during the discussion on the no-confidence motion on Monday. Other Ministers too have repeated the chief minister's allegations.
However, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala dismissed the allegations.
"Everyone knows who makes offensive statements in the Assembly. The no-confidence motion was taken up for discussion on August 24. Neither the media, the CPM or the government had raised any such issue on that day or the day after. It was only on the third day that the CM raised such an allegation," he said.
The chief minister had spoken for 3 hours and 45 minutes in the Assembly. However, criticisms were raised that he did not address the allegations over the gold smuggling scandal in his marathon speech.
Even after three hours into the speech, Pinarayi Vijayan did not address any serious allegations.
Irked by this, the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) entered the well of the House and protested. The opposition MLAs raised slogans for 45 minutes even as the CM continued with his speech. The chief minister on Wednesday claimed that some of these slogans were offensive.
However, the CM did not appear to be agitated when slogans were raised. He was even seen smiling. Both the CM and opposition leader took potshots at each other.
The CM, however, was allegedly irked by some of the comments made by certain members of the opposition when the privatisation of the Thiruvananthapuram airport was taken up earlier in the day.
He was also agitated over a spat with K B Ganesh Kumar and Anil Akkara.
But none of this seemed to have affected the CM, who spoke calmly throughout the speech. Therefore, the opposition seeks to know if the CM would have adopted that stand had someone raised offensive comments.
Though the House witnessed intense verbal spat, both the opposition and ruling fronts refrained from making any remarks that could be spoil the dignity of the Assembly.
The opposition asserted that they did not do anything beyond raising slogans at the well of the House. The opposition also pointed out the hard-hitting statements made against Oommen Chandy over the solar scandal during his tenure as the CM.
However, the ruling front alleged that the opposition did not maintain the decorum while protesting against a senior leader of the chief minister's stature.
