THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If the first day of the fifth session of the 15th assembly saw vehement protest and sloganeering on Monday, the UDF will continue to try to put the government on the mat over various issues in the coming days too and force Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to react.
The Opposition will raise issues ranging from the gold smuggling case, the SFI attack on Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi’s office, SilverLine, buffer zone and power tariff hike to the KSRTC imbroglio.Senior Congress MLA Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan told TNIE that their strategy to disrupt the session worked in favour of them. “The LDF’s strategy did not work on Monday. When we realised that the LDF ministers were going to put a defence around Pinarayi by shouting slogans, things became easier for us. Had they come up with a Plan B, we had our own action and reaction plan ready,” said Thiruvanchoor.
Following the revelations made by Swapna Suresh, key accused in the gold smuggling case, the youth organisations of the UDF had resorted to waving black flags against Pinarayi. When the state police enforced an unannounced ban on black face masks and black dress in the public programmes attended by Pinarayi soon after Swapna’s allegation triggered protests, the UDF’s young MLAs decided in advance to sport black shirts on the first day of the assembly session. Speaking to TNIE, Congress MLA P C Vishnunath ruled out wearing black shirts by young Opposition MLAs in the assembly in the coming days too.