THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Assembly witnessed major uproar for the third consecutive day on Wednesday. If back-to-back incidents of police lapses led to the disruption of House proceedings for the first two days, Speaker denying permission to raise Varappuzha issue before the House led to disorder on Wednesday.
Opposition trooped to the well of the House raising slogans and moved near the Speaker's podium urging to withdraw his ruling. With three legislation to be discussed in the House on Wednesday, the Speaker quickly ran through the proceedings and went for an early adjournment for the day.
Even as opposition UDF tried to move a notice for an adjournment motion over lapses in a police investigation in the Varappuzha custodial death, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan termed the matter sub-judice, and hence denied permission to move the same. He pointed out that the government has provided detailed written replies in the issue. Also, the High Court is due to consider the issue on June 13.
An irked opposition raised slogans and move to the well. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala pointed out that earlier also similar issues have come from the House. He listed out a number of similar issues
including bar bribery scam and solar scandal, where adjournment motions were moved in the Assembly.
"The Speaker should ensure that the Opposition's rights are protected. You are setting a wrong precedence through this ruling," Chennithala reminded the Speaker while urging him to reconsider the same.
The opposition later alleged Chief Minister's intervention behind the extraordinary move by the Speaker. "It's the most brutal murder in the state's history. Since it's an extraordinary development, the Chair should permit to raise the same in the House," Chennithala further demanded.
Though Speaker tried to calm the opposition, the UDF legislators continued with their protest. Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs minister AK Balan tried to intervene which irked the Speaker, who made clear that such statements will not influence the Speaker's Ruling.
The Speaker chose to temporarily suspend the proceedings for about half-an-hour. Since protests continued when the House reconvened, the Speaker quickly ran through the proceedings and went for an early adjournment for the day.