Kerala Assembly witnesses noisy scenes over issue of 'unstarred' questions

Thiruvananthapuram | The Kerala Assembly on Monday witnessed uproarious scenes and a boycott by opposition Congress-led UDF members over the downgrading of a set of 'starred' questions submitted by them into unstarred ones.

Although the 12th session of the 15th Assembly began on October 4, the House had adjourned on the first day after paying homage to the victims of the Wayanad landslide tragedy.

The second day of the session commenced on a stormy note today with the enraged opposition expressing displeasure to Speaker A N Shamseer over the altering of 49 starred questions into non-starred ones.

The Speaker, however, justified the changes made by the Assembly Secretariat and claimed that there was nothing "unusual" in the action.

He also said no "discrimination" has been shown towards the opposition.

Unsatisfied with his reply, the UDF members trooped into the well of the House with placards and a banner and started raising slogans against the government and the speaker.

While CM Pinarayi Vijayan was responding during the question hour, the Speaker intervened again as the UDF protest intensified.

Later, the Speaker agreed to give Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan microphone if the protesting members were ready to return to their seats.

Heeding to his request, all the other opposition members except Mathew Kuzhalnadan (Congress) went back to their seats.

With Kuzhalnadan continuing his protest in front of podium, Speaker Shamseer asked "who is the Leader of Opposition here?" This triggered sharp reactions from Congress leader Satheesan.

"There is an impropriety in your (Speaker) question. This shows your immaturity," the LoP alleged and accused him of joining hands with the ruling benches and taking stands against the opposition.

He also announced that the opposition is boycotting the question hour.

Later, CM Vijayan and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M B Rajesh strongly criticised the remarks made by the opposition leader against the Speaker.

While Vijayan termed the comments as 'unprecedented' in the history of the House, the Speaker described the turn of events as unfortunate".

The Speaker also said that the controversial remarks made by the LoP would not be included in the Assembly records.

Following this, Congress MLA A P Anilkumar submitted a letter to the speaker, requesting that the statements made by the CM and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister against Satheesan also be expunged from the House records.