THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 16th Kerala assembly got a hang of having a novel third front in the house on the very first day it convened for regular business. Curiously the brief ruckus in the house threw up a challenge before Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan - who chose to take a benevolent call to allow a new member to speak - giving him an indication of what awaits him in coming days.
The occasion was the first adjournment motion on inflation due to fuel price hike, moved by ex-finance minister K N Balagopal.
After the customary response from the treasury bench, the speaker denied permission for the motion. In his walkout speech, Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan, while taking on the government for its reluctance to give immediate relief to people, also attacked PM Narendra Modi.
Pinarayi accused the NDA government of toeing the line of US President Donald Trump, and criticized the Modi administration over oil import.
As soon as Pinarayi wound up his speech, BJP’s parliamentary party leader B B Gopakumar stood up. However, it was the turn of CPI leader K Rajan who was heard telling the speaker that the new member was unaware of house procedures. The speaker told Gopakumar that only those who had signed the adjournment motion are allowed to speak on the same, following which Gopakumar sat down.
Once Rajan along with the CPI MLAs staged a walkout, Gopakumar again stood up and started his speech. In fact, it was the turn of the next LDF leader - P K Praveen of the RJD - to deliver the walkout speech.
The speaker, however, chose to allow Gopakumar, as he felt the new member needn’t be interrupted during his maiden speech in the house.
By then, even treasury benches, especially minister A P Anil Kumar, too raised protests. Thiruvanchoor attempted to broker peace, as he pointed out that Gopakumar being a new member might not be aware of assembly norms.
He even assured the treasury benches that it wouldn’t become a precedent in the house. He further went onto add that he doesn’t want to cut short the maiden speech of a debutant legislator. “Shouldn’t we show some benevolence?,” he asked.
Gopakumar, meanwhile, made full use of the speaker’s ‘benevolence,’ unleashing a counter-attack on the CPM.
