Kerala Assembly session adjourned as UDF opposition disrupts proceedings

The fifth session of the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly was adjourned for the day on Monday after the opposition members started shouting slogans demanding action in connection with the recent vandalism of Rahul Gandhi's Wayanad office allegedly by SFI activists.

After the session was initially adjourned just a couple of minutes after the question hour began at 9 AM, it was reconvened at 10 AM amidst continuing sloganeering by opposition members, some wearing black shirts, who raised placards and banners against the vandalism of Rahul Gandhi's office and the gold smuggling related allegations against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

They quietened down only for a few minutes when Speaker M B Rajesh was reading out obituaries of eight former MLAs, including M P Govindan Nair, K Sankara Narayanan, K G Kunjikrishna Pillai, S Thyagarajan and P Gopalakrishnan, who had passed away in the last few months.

As soon as obituaries were over, the protesting MLAs entered the well of the House and waved placards and banners right in front of the Speaker's dais and shouted slogans demanding an apology from the CM for the vandalism of Rahul Gandhi's office as well as action against SFI whose workers have been accused of carrying out the attack.

The protesting opposition MLAs did not stop their sloganeering even after the Speaker said he was going to take up the notice tabled by Congress MLA T Siddique.

Subsequently, the Speaker, amidst the continuing protests, allowed the tabling of the reports of the various assembly committees by the ministers heading the same and thereafter, adjourned the House for the day at 10.24 AM.

He said the session would reconvene on Tuesday morning.

After the session was adjourned, opposition members walked out of the Assembly waving placards and carrying a black banner which termed the vandalising of Gandhi's office as barbaric.

They also chanted slogans of protest as they walked out of the Assembly premises.

Speaking to reporters outside the assembly gates, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan said that UDF had given a notice to discuss the attack on Rahul Gandhi's office and raised slogans regarding that in the House.

However, the ruling front tried to suppress the voice of the opposition and also raised slogans which were provocative in nature which led to the further disruption of the House proceedings, he alleged.

Satheesan further alleged that the attack on Rahul Gandhi's office was carried out with the active knowledge of the Chief Minister's Office and under the leadership of a former staff member of state Health Minister Veena George.

George's former staff member, though removed from office, was still not an accused in the case registered in connection with vandalising Rahul Gandhi's office, he contended.

The LoP also alleged that the attack was carried out to appease the Sangh Parivar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, who want to oust Gandhi from Wayanad, to escape the sword of Damocles -- in the form of central agencies investigation in the gold smuggling case -- that was hanging over the CM's head.

Satheesan said the opposition was prepared to move forward with its protests against the vandalism incident as well as in relation to the allegations against the CM.

As the question hour of the Assembly session commenced at 9 AM, the opposition began thumping the tables and then as the first question was being answered, they started shouting slogans and raised placards and banners against the vandalism of Gandhi's office.

Earlier in the morning when opposition members began shouting slogans during the question hour, the Speaker urged them several times to refrain from disrupting the proceedings of the House, but the protesting MLAs did not pay heed to him.

He also asked the opposition members to sit down and not wave placards and banners as it was a violation of the House protocols and discipline, but they disregarded that too.

The Speaker further said that their notice for adjournment was before him for consideration, but the opposition members continued shouting slogans, like ''SFI goondaism.'' As the opposition continued to disregard the Speaker's requests, it resulted in a shouting match between them and the LDF MLAs who raised slogans hailing Vijayan's leadership.

As the opposition was not willing to quieten down despite his repeated urgings, the Speaker adjourned the session temporarily.

The fifth session was expected to take a turbulent turn as the opposition led by the Congress was equipped with enough ammunition, ranging from the startling revelations by a key accused in the gold smuggling case against Chief Minister Vijayan to the vandalisation of Rahul Gandhi's office by SFI activists, to take on the CPI(M)-led LDF government.

The one-month-long session was being convened mainly to discuss and pass the demands for grants for the financial year 2022-23.

However, the Congress-led UDF had made it clear that they would raise the ongoing controversies in the House.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)