THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala has urged Speaker A N Shamseer not to deny the Opposition its rights in the assembly. While recalling the history of the assembly in a three-page letter, he cautioned the speaker against becoming a spokesperson of the government.
Listing the number of adjournment motions made in the history of the Kerala legislative assembly (KLA), including those rejected and discussed, the former opposition leader claimed that the ongoing session has created a history of sorts, with six adjournment motions raised by the Opposition being rejected.
“During the term of the 13th KLA [Oommen Chandy government], which met for 234 days, only seven adjournment motions were declined out of 191. Similarly, the 14th legislative assembly [first Pinarayi Vijayan government] rejected just eight adjournment motions out of 174. But the current assembly has trashed 11 adjournment motions over the 110 days it has met, so far,” Chennithala said.
He termed the rejection of six adjournment motions during the ongoing session, citing political reasons, as a “shameful act”. Chennithala urged for maintaining the criteria followed by the speaker during the UDF regime of 2011-16.
“An adjournment motion is one of the instruments of accountability. The speaker should not forget that raising an adjournment motion is the crucial right of the Opposition. So far, only 32 adjournment motions have been taken up for discussion in the assembly since the state was formed.
It is interesting to note that only on very few occasions were members not allowed to talk,” Chennithala added in the letter. The Congress leader also took a dig at Shamseer saying he will hold the record for not allowing members to speak while rejecting adjournment motions.