‘Can’t claim privilege for MLAs’ criminal act’

Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition leader V D Satheesan has said there is no privilege for the MLAs if they indulge in any criminal activities inside the assembly. The privilege is only for the speeches they make in the House. If they attack an UDF MLA violently inside the House how can they claim privilege, he asked.
While referring to the plea submitted by the state government and the MLAs to quash the assembly ruckus case charged against the LDF members in the House, the opposition leader said, “No court in the country will accept the demand of the state government.”
It is a fact that no case can be registered based on the speeches made by the MLAs in the House. That is the only privilege an MLA gets. How can a government claim privilege when an MLA engages in a criminal activity, he asked?
“These MLAs engaged in destroying the public property of the assembly. It is a criminal activity and cases have been registered for destroying public property. So if the government says that the MLA has a privilege to do anything inside the House, then if an MLA violently attacks another, then also will the government claim the same privilege?” asked Satheesan.
It is strange that the state government and the LDF MLAs are claiming special privilege when they have indulged in a criminal activity inside the House. Will such an act inside the Parliament be pardoned, he asked.
The LDF has been claiming that K M Mani is the biggest corrupt politician the state has witnessed and even his family was haunted by the LDF raising the bar bribery case. LDF had even claimed that Mani was having a currency-counting machine at this house. In fact, CPM should now publicly apologize for the insulting campaign they had conducted against Mani and his family.
“Now the CPM secretary has claimed that they had blocked the entry of UDF in the assembly. Did they block Oommen Chandy or any other leaders during that incident? Their target was none other than K M Mani. The then party secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had claimed that they will not allow a corrupt leader like K M Mani to present the budget. Now, how can they make such blatant lies before the people who have witnessed everything,” said Satheesan.