A certain level of mutual suspicion has always existed between Speaker A N Shamseer and Opposition Leader V D Satheesan.

The Speaker is of the opinion that the Opposition Leader takes too much time, especially for his walk out speeches at the end of adjournment motions, and so often keeps telling Satheesan to conclude. The Opposition Leader, in turn, sees in this a deliberate ploy to "disturb the flow" of his speeches.

This shared misgiving about the other has frequently led to bitter exchange of words between the two. But on Thursday, during an adjournment motion on the "drastic cuts" in the plan spending for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities, the argumentative field that existed between the two charged up so badly that there was pandemonium in the Assembly. The Speaker was forced to wind up the day in a jiffy.

Things hurtled downhill after the Speaker gave a time warning at the ninth minute of the Opposition Leader's speech. The previous day (February 12), too, during an adjournment motion on the collapsing law and order situation in the state, the Speaker had begun warning Satheesan from the ninth minute. At that instance, an apparently exasperated Opposition Leader had complained that the Speaker was wilfully trying to "disturb the flow of my speech", and had provocatively inserted that he knew that the Speaker was doing this to please the Chief Minister. "Don't talk to me like that," the Speaker had shot back.

But on Thursday, it looked like Satheesan was keen to avoid a confrontation. The earlier warnings were ignored. At times, Satheesan said "please" and went ahead with his speech. At around the 11th minute, when Satheesan declared that he was going to give out the most important figures that reflected the LDF government's neglect of SC/ST communities, the Speaker once again asked him to "please conclude". Unmindful, Satheesan listed a slew of government projects for SC and ST - assistance related housing, education, marriage and also scholarships - where the plan fund utilisation was inadequate.

The Speaker insisted that Satheesan conclude. The Opposition Leader still was not in a mood to engage with the Speaker, he clearly had more to say. "Don't try to provoke me into a fight with you," Satheesan said and continued with his anti-government tirade.

At the 13th minute when Satheesan was making the rhetorical point that the money spent on the SC/ST communities was not a favour bestowed on them but their rightful due, the Speaker interrupted.

This time Satheesan put down this notes and faced the Speaker. "Why are you trying to curb my speech," he asked. The Speaker had a faint smile on him, it was as if he took some secret glee from this encounter. "You yourself have repeatedly claimed that you give the shortest walk out speeches in the history of Kerala Assembly. I am only reminding you of your own words," the Speaker said.

By this time the UDF members were up on their feet making aggressive gestures at the Speaker. "I have intervened only in the 13th minute. Now please conclude," the Speaker said.

Satheesan toughened his stance. "Under no circumstances will this be allowed," he said and threw a challenge at the Speaker: "It is you who have to decide whether to conduct the Assembly or not. Don't ever think that you can run the House by interrupting my speech."

This was enough for the UDF members to rush to the well of the House and swarm the base of the Speaker's podium shouting slogans. The reaction was swift from the other side. The ruling side MLAs, too, rushed to the edge of the well shouting angry words at the protesting UDF members.

The Speaker's repeated requests to the Opposition Leader to pull back his members were ignored. The UDF members kept up their voices. Equally defiant was the Speaker. He asked the ruling members to get back to their seats and rushed through the entire day's business in 15 minutes.

There were two Calling Attention motions, 15 Submissions, discussion and voting on the Final Supplementary Demands for Grants for the ongoing 2024-25 Budget, and two Bills to be referred to the subject committees (Kerala State Elderly Commission Bill, 2025, and Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development (Amendment) Bill, 2015). Had it been a normal day, the business would have stretched up to dusk.