Thiruvananthapuram: The 14th Kerala State Assembly will hold a one-day sitting at its ancestral home Thursday on the 60th anniversary of the first session after integration.
The first session was held on April 27, 1957 in the Assembly Hall located at the Secretariat. The last session held in this hall was on June 29, 1998.
Ahead of Thursday's session, the Speaker led floral tributes in front of the statues of Gandhiji and Ambedkar in front of the new Assembly building and also at the EMS statue in the EMS Park outside the Assembly compound. The session opened at 8.30 am with questions and answers. There is no zero hour during the session.
The Speaker and leaders of parties would then speak.
The Bill to legislate compulsory teaching of Malayalam in all schools in the state is scheduled to be introduced. An ordinance for this was issued recently. The legislation will replace the ordinance as is mandatory.
The Opposition, which had been blocking Assembly procedures for the past two days will not resort to that Thursday, because this session is to be part of history. However, in the coming days they will press on with plans including the boycott of minister M.M. Mani.
The first session 60 years ago had seen the swearing-in of MLAs and the election of a Speaker. It was pro-tem Speaker Rosamma Punnose who administered the oath to members. R. Shankaranarayanan Thampi was elected Speaker unopposed.
The advisory panel has not scheduled a sitting on Saturday. The Assembly will convene again on Tuesday.