THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The first day of the seventh session of Kerala legislative assembly went for an early adjournment following an opposition protest over 'back-door appointments'. The opposition MLAs raised slogans in the House and stayed away from taking part in the proceedings at the end of Zero hour.
The opposition legislators got provoked after constant interruption from the treasury bench during the opposition leader's walkout speech. Speaker AN Shamseer, after his initial attempts to restore peace, decided to wrap up the session without further discussion on calling attention motions or other legislative businesses.
Earlier, permission was denied for an adjournment motion moved by UDF's PC Vishnunath to discuss 'back-door appointments' by weakening the Public Service Commission. Responding to the notice for the motion, LSGD (Local Self Govt Department) minister MB Rajesh countered the opposition's charges, by listing out the appointments made by the LDF government through PSC.
He said close to 2 lakh appointments have been made since 2016. LDF made close to 2000 more appointments when compared to the previous UDF rule, he said. The minister also said that the controversy over the letter row involving Mayor Arya Rajedran was baseless. According to the minister, the Mayor did not write such a letter to the CPM party leader offering jobs to party workers. Going one step ahead, the minister even read out some letters written by UDF leaders recommending jobs for their followers during the UDF rule.
Opposition leader VD Satheesan alleged that the minister termed the Mayor's letter fake even before the Crime Branch completed its investigation. He also alleged that the PSC was reduced to a scarecrow as the jobs were offered through back-door.