Unruly scenes in Kerala Assembly: LoP calls Pinarayi 'corrupt', CM terms Satheesan a 'substandard person'

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Assembly on Monday witnessed heated exchange of words between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and leader of opposition V D Satheesan, leading to early adjournment of the house owing to unruly scenes.

While the Chief Minister termed the LoP a 'substandard person', the LoP termed the Chief Minister a 'corrupt'. LoP also termed speaker A M Shamseer as immature and accused him of being partial towards the government.

With the opposition climbing the speaker's dais shouting slogans and raising banner in front of the speaker, the speaker adjourned the house for the day.

The issues started during the question-hour with the opposition members trooping to the well of the house as part of protest against marking as many as 49 'starred' questions of the opposition, which are supposed to be answered in the floor of the house, as 'unstarred', for which only written replies need to be given. The questions pertained to the ongoing controversies including alleged sabotage of Thrissur pooram, IPS officer's meeting with RSS leaders and Pinarayi Vjayan's controversial remark on Malappuram based gold smuggling.

LoP Satheesan was provoked as the speaker asked some opposition MLAs protesting in the well of the house whether they were the LoP. Satheesan said that Shamseer's remark was an insult to the speaker's post. He also said that Shamseer's remarks showed his immaturity and partiality towards the government. LoP also called for the opposition's boycott of the question hour.

Chief minister strongly flayed Satheesan's remarks against the speaker. "Satheesan is repeatedly proving that he was a substandard LoP. No one had made such insulting remarks against the speaker ever before. Such remarks should be rejected with condemnation," Vijayan said.

The speaker ruled that Satheesan's remarks against the chair would be expunged from the records of the house.

Later, the opposition returned to the house during the zero-hour and the LoP flayed the chief minister's remarks against him. "I daily pray to the God that I never become a corrupt person like Vijayan," he said and demanded the speaker to expunge the Chief Minister's remarks from the records of the house.

Vijayan replied that the society would not accept the LoP's statement that he (Vijayan) was corrupt.

As the speaker went ahead with the normal proceedings, the opposition MLAs trooped to the well again shouting slogans against the speaker and the Chief Minister. Attempts by opposition MLAs to enter the speaker's dais led to a scuffle with watch and ward staff. Opposition MLAs also raised banners against the Chief Minister in front of the speaker to block his view, which was flayed by the Chief Minister. The tense situation escalated further as some ruling front MLAs also trooped towards the well of the house.

Subsequently, the speaker adjourned the house for the day.

The government had earlier decided to allow discussion on a notice of the opposition for an adjournment motion over the Chief Minister's remark about Malappuram and it was scheduled to begin from 12 noon.

Law Minister P Rajeev later said that the opposition deliberately created the issues to avoid discussion on the adjournment motion notice. The opposition's efforts to spread misleading campaigns over the Chief Minister's Malappuram remarks could have been further exposed if the discussion took place, he said.