Thiruvananthapuram: The Assembly was disrupted on Thursday following a verbal duel between the ruling LDF and opposition UDF over allowing veteran MLA C. K. Nanu of Janata Dal (U) to speak. Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan was forced to suspend the house for about 30 minutes because of the noisy scenes and even lamented that the standards of the house “had lowered to the level of hell”. The unruly scenes occurred during the presentation of a notice seeking permission for an adjournment motion on the recent violence in Vatakara and nearby areas.
After IUML MLA representing Kuttiyady constituency, Parakkal Abdulla, presented the notice, C. K. Nanu who represents Vatakara wanted to speak on the issue. However, the opposition strongly opposed it as they felt that Nanu who is with the ruling LDF may try to counter the allegations raised by Parakkal Abdulla against the violence by the CPM. As the Speaker allowed Nanu to speak, Opposition MLAs trooped to the well of the house shouting slogans against the Speaker. Though the Speaker cited precedents, the Opposition did not give up their protest.
As Mr Nanu continued to speak, the Opposition MLAs raised their voice despite Nanu’s request to allow him to speak. LDF MLAs, including ministers Sudhakaran and Mathew T. Thomas, also came up to the veteran MLA and advised him not to speak until the opposition stopped their protest. Subsequently when Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala began to speak, the LDF MLAs shouted, making it impossible for him to speak. This led to a heated exchange of words between the UDF and LDF members, forcing the Speaker to suspend the house.
When the house was convened after about 30 minutes, the Speaker lamented that the standards of the house had lowered. Mr. Chennithala said that they had due regards for senior MLA Nanu and their protest was against deliberate attempts to dilute the spirit of the issues raised in the adjournment motion notice.
Mr. Nanu however said that he was not going into the details of the recent violence in Vatakara region, but was only urging the political parties not to destroy the peaceful atmosphere in the region. The Opposition staged a walkout after the Speaker denied permission for the adjournment motion.
