The Opposition entered the assembly today with placards and accused the Chief Minister of deliberately provoking the opposition and trying to get away without answering.
The Congress-led Opposition on Monday staged a massive protest in the Kerala Assembly and was adjourned shortly after the session began till 11 am. Speaker AN Shamsheer called off the question hour due to the protests.
The protest initially began after the Speaker refused Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan to raise issues during Question Hour. Satheesan was to raise questions on cases against UDF legislators for non-bailable offences concerning the alleged attack on House marshals during a tussle in front of the Speaker’s office on Wednesday. However, Speaker Shamsheer turned off the Opposition leader’s microphone.
The Opposition entered the assembly today with placards and accused the Chief Minister of deliberately provoking the opposition and trying to get away without answering.
V D Satheesan, on Monday, said, "False cases have been registered against seven of our legislators, including two women. The chief minister is trying to escape answering crucial questions like Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We all witnessed how police reached Rahul Gandhi’s house. The same thing is happening here too."
After Satheesan’s brief speech on Monday, the Kerala Speaker proceeded with the Question Hour. However, the entire opposition trooped into the well of the House and started sloganeering. After 30 minutes, Shamsheer adjourned the house briefly and called for a meeting of the business advisory committee of the Assembly.
The opposition has assured cooperation, but their genuine rights have to be allowed, including the right to seek leave for moving adjournment motions.
The Kerala Police last week registered two cases against MLAs of the opposition Congress-led UDF and ruling Left Front and a few Marshals in connection with the tussle in front of the state Assembly Speaker’s office. Cases were registered based on the complaints given by Congress MLA Saneesh Kumar and a female watch and ward, Sheena. In the former’s complaint, he mentioned the deputy chief marshal, the Watch and Ward, and CPI(M) MLAs H Salam and Sachin Dev, following which the police registered a case under Section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Sheena, in her complaint, mentioned the names of the MLAs who participated in the protest. She suffered a fracture in her right hand in the tussle. A case was registered under Section 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the IPC.
Museum Police have also registered a case against Opposition MLAs based on a complaint filed by the Marshals under sections 333 and 326 of the IPC. Opposition MLAs Anoop Jacob, Roji M John, Anwar Sadath, I C Balakrishnan, P K Basheer, K K Rema and Uma Thomas, in a joint statement, termed the case "fake" and said they would challenge it legally.
