Standoff forces adjournment till Nov. 11

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, OCT. 31. After passing the demands for grants and the Kerala Appropriation Bill, the Speaker, Mr. Vakkom B. Purushothaman, today adjourned the Assembly till November 11.

When the question hour began at 8-30 a.m., the deputy leader of the CPI(M) Legislature Party, Mr. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, stood up and raised the suspension of three MLAs who were fasting outside the Assembly. This cannot be justified, he said.

When the Speaker denied permission to raise the issue, the Opposition members trooped to the well of the House shouting slogans. Ignoring the protest, the Speaker called the members to put the questions on the Home Department.

Though the Finance Minister, Mr. K. Sankaranarayanan, stood up and started replying to the questions in the absence of the Chief Minister, Mr. A. K. Antony, nothing could be heard in the din. On realising that no business could be transacted in a peaceful manner, the Speaker suspended the question hour and the zero hour.

Mr. Purushothaman said that the suspended MLAs, who are not even entitled to enter the Assembly premises, were staging a fast outside the Assembly. This had never occurred in the history of the Assembly. This was unfortunate, he said.

Mr. Sankaranarayanan then moved a motion saying that the proceedings should be guillotined and the House adjourned temporarily. The demands for grants, including those for Social Welfare, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Dairy, and the Kerala Appropriation Bill, were passed without discussion and the House was adjourned till November 11.

The Opposition members then moved to the fasting MLAs shouting slogans and staged a dharna outside the Assembly.

The Opposition had been disrupting the proceedings since October 18 following the suspension of Mr. Raju Abraham, Mr. M. V. Jayarajan and Mr. P. S. Supal.

Once the Assembly was adjourned, the suspended MLAs called off the fast temporarily. Mr. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan offered lime juice to Mr. Raju Abraham, the CPI leader in the House, Mr. K. P. Rajendran, to Mr. M. V. Jayarajan and the KC(J) leader in the House, Dr. K. C. Joseph, to Mr. P. S. Supal.

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Section  : Southern States
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