Thiruvananthapuram: Speaker M B Rajesh rushed through the proceedings of the first day of the 15th Assembly Session on Monday after the UDF members persistently shouted slogans in protest against the attack on Rahul Gandhi's office.
Quite inexplicably, the UDF did not even show the patience to move an adjournment motion on the issue, the notice for which was given by Congress MLA T Siddique. As a consequence, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's version of the events, and the details of the action the government had taken, were not heard in the Assembly.
The UDF benches started shouting slogans right at the start, the moment the Question Hour began. Six of the UDF legislators had arrived in black shirts and many, including the new Thrikkakara MLA, wore black masks. A snub aimed at the Chief Minister, who it was alleged had banned black masks during the Congress protests in the first half of June.
The first question of the day related to the Excise Department was asked by CPM MLA Mukesh. But the Opposition sloganeering was too noisy for excise minister M V Govindan to speak. The Speaker called for restraint, but all his brief exhortations to the agitated UDF MLAs failed. And just five minutes into the day, the Speaker walked out saying the House has been temporarily put on hold.
After this, the two fronts ganged up on two sides, forming two semicircles on either side of the well, and began out-shouting each other.
This competitive sloganeering continued for nearly an hour, till the Speaker returned at 10 a.m. Immediately, order was restored in the House and the Speaker paid homage to seven former members who had passed away after the last session.
But the moment the Speaker took up the adjournment motion, the UDF MLAs revived their shouts and went rushing to the Speaker's podium screaming slogans. The Speaker then guillotined the day's proceedings.
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 Pinarayi Vijayan to the vandalisation of Rahul Gandhi's office by SFI activists, to take on the CPM-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.
