THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance Minister Thomas Isaac's office with the media when the minister was just halfway into his speech, leading to a major row in the Assembly on Thursday.
When the Budget highlights reached the public domain through social media, the Opposition seized the opportunity and disrupted the Budget speech. Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that
the Budget had lost its sanctity.
Battered by the Opposition onslaught, Isaac went on the defensive and skipped major portions of the speech. The minister wrapped up his speech within 10 minutes after the ruckus began.
The UDF by then boycotted the Budget speech and walked out of the House. Later, addressing a news conference, Chennithala demanded the Finance Minister's resignation.
The e-mail was sent to the media at 10.26, exactly an hour and 26 minutes after the Finance Minister began his speech.
This, at a time when Isaac was yet to announce major budgetary proposals in the infrastructure domain and also the plans to revive state-run KSRTC.
Opposition MLAs, who obtained copies of the highlights, taunted the Finance Minister by reading out portions of what the Finance Minister was about to say in his speech. Even though Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Finance Minister Thomas Isaac tried to calm the Opposition by stating that the matter would be inquired into, it failed to pacify them.