Assembly proceedings disrupted on 4th day too

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:The assembly proceedings were disrupted for the fourth consecutive day over Sabarimala issue, with the assembly adjourned after 20 minutes after meeting, on Monday.

Three opposition MLAs - V S Sivakumar (Congress), Parakkal Abdulla (IUML) and K NJayaraj (Kerala Congress-M) - began an indefinite satyagraha in front of the assembly hall, protesting the curbs imposed by the government in Sabarimala and the lack of facilities there.

The opposition on Monday declared readiness to cooperate with the proceedings, as it had planned to take up the issue of alleged corruption and nepotism charges against minister K T Jaleel. However, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said this was an expected move since the BJP had decided to stop the agitations in Sabarimala and s there was a collusion between the UDF and the BJP. These comments provoked the opposition, who charged to the well of the house shouting slogans. The ruling front MLAs also got up from their seats and moved towards the well. Amid the pandemonium, the speaker rushed through the proceedings and declared the house adjourned for the day.

Later, the UDF MLAs sat in protest outside the main entrance of the assembly hall shouting slogans, where the three MLAs began the satyagraha.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said that it was probably for the first time that the leader of the house himself wanted the house to be adjourned as he was afraid of facing the Jaleel issue. “The indication given by him to speaker P Sreeramakrishnan through a slip, we believe, was to adjourn the house. But we will take up the Sabarimala and K T Jaleel issues in the coming days,” he said.

Former chief minister Oommen Chandy said that the government had enough time to ensure facilities in Sabarimala, but it did nothing. IUML’s parliamentary party leader M K Muneer said that it had become the style of the chief minister to allege a nexus between UDF and the BJP whenever he did not have answers for key issues.