The 12th session of the 15th Kerala Assembly will begin on Friday amid the political cataclysm set off by Nilambur MLA P V Anvar. Though the nine-day session has been convened mostly for legislative business, politics is expected to dominate.
The Opposition UDF will use the chance to amplify the swirl of controversies that seem to have already shaken the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government. Anvar has by now given the UDF a host of issues to choose from: the criminalisation of the police force, its link to gold smugglers, and the alleged misuse of political influence by the Chief Minister's political secretary.
ADGP (Law & Order) M R Ajithkumar's RSS links were an issue exposed by opposition leader V D Satheesan himself. And this aspect imparts greater political potency to the disruption of the 'Thrissur pooram' this year.
The CM's seeming desperation to protect a senior cop who has been accused of striking a secret deal with the RSS has shown up the CPM’s much-vaunted ideological rigour as a mere pretence. Satheesan would want to maximise the CPM's political embarrassment. He is certain to get at least a silent approval from the CPI, the LDF's second most important constituent.
Now, with the Chief Minister's office unintentionally exposing its seemingly close association with a national PR agency, the UDF has found an unexpected weapon to clobber the Pinarayi government.
It’s disadvantage UDF
The UDF legislators' attempt to raise some of these issues during Question Hour has been thwarted. The Legislative Secretariat has downgraded as many as 49 questions submitted by UDF MLAs on issues like the ADGP-RSS meeting, the infiltration of communal elements in the police, the disruption of Thrissur pooram, the police-gold smuggling link, the alleged criminal links of the Chief Minister’s political secretary P Sasi, the disappearance of Mohammad Aattoor, and the ‘kafir’ screenshot controversy.
The UDF MLAs wanted their questions on these issues to be answered by ministers, especially the Chief Minister, in the floor of the House. But these questions have now been given only 'unstarred' status, and so they could be downplayed by the government by offering just written replies.
It looks like an adjournment motion is the only tool that will be available to the UDF. All controversial issues are discussed during adjournment motions. Even if the motion is mostly disallowed, it still offers a chance for both sides to state their cases. However, Speaker A N Shamseer, whenever he sensed trouble for the CPM, had demonstrated a tendency to deny the opposition a chance to even table an adjournment motion in the House. If this happens, there could be a stalemate, and the session could be terminated even before the completion of nine days.
The first day of the session, however, would be a sober affair as it would limit itself to remembering the lives lost during the Wayanad landslide. It will be during the remaining eight days that politics and legislation would play out in all its argumentative intensity.
Anvar’s position
Perhaps the most curious aspect of the 12th session would be P V Anvar's seating. Anvar had declared that he was no more part of the LDF Parliamentary Party and the LDF Parliamentary Party leader T P Ramakrishnan, in turn, has asked the Speaker to remove Anvar from the block reserved for LDF legislators.
Anvar is now the only MLA in the Kerala Assembly unaffiliated to either of the two political camps, UDF or LDF. He would be offered a space in between both the fronts.