THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Stalemate in the assembly continued for the fourth day as the Opposition obstructed the proceedings over the denial of the adjournment motion notice and the police case against seven UDF MLAs.
When the assembly convened on Monday after two days of break, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan said the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government was following the same method of the Modi government at the Centre which sent police to the house of Rahul Gandhi.
However, Speaker A N Shamseer decided to continue with the question hour. Soon the Opposition members trooped into the well of the House and started shouting slogans. They erected placards in front of the speaker’s chair. The speaker repeatedly asked the Opposition not to block his view. Shamseer cautioned the members that people were keenly watching the proceedings.
However, the Opposition said Sabha TV was not airing their protest. The session was temporarily stopped after 30 minutes. The speaker called the business advisory council meeting at 11 am. However, the Opposition maintained that they will not attend it unless their demands are addressed.
The speaker had talked to Satheesan over the phone ahead of the session urging his cooperation. Parliamentary Affairs Minister K Radhakrishnan had also sought Satheesan’s support for the smooth functioning of the assembly.
However, Satheesan stuck to his demands. The UDF parliamentary party had decided to raise the SFI protest issue at the Law College, Thiruvananthapuram, as the adjournment motion topic. The meeting had also decided not to relent to the pressure of the LDF government until their demands are met. When the assembly resumed at 11.30 am, the Opposition continued the protests, prompting the speaker to end the day’s business after completing the proceedings.
Speaker withdraws remarks about Shafi
Speaker A N Shamseer on Monday withdrew his controversial remarks against Congress MLA Shafi Parambil, saying his comments on March 14 were “inappropriate”. “I understand that my statement has hurt the member’s sentiments. The chair is withdrawing its unintentional remarks. The remarks will be removed from the archives too,” the speaker said. Shamseer also assured the Opposition that he will protect their rights to move notice under Rule 50 on important subjects.
“I will follow the model shown by my predecessors. However, there will be no compromise to interpret the rights of the chair to take decisions on the notices which are not in accordance with the rules or in violation of the parliamentary proceedings,” he said. On broadcasting of the assembly proceedings on Sabha TV, he said, “We will examine in detail the proposal to follow the model set by Parliament at the time of protests to show visuals of Opposition members.