Hirelings haunt Kerala Assembly again

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Opposition boycotted the Assembly on Friday for the second consecutive day demanding the expunction of  Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s allegation that the Shiv Sena activists involved in moral policing at Marine Drive on Wednesday were UDF hirelings. The House witnessed heated exchanges between the chief minister and Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala. While Mr Vijayan alleged that the Opposition was accommodative of the stand of the RSS- Sangh Parivar outfits, Mr Chennithala  criticised him for raising such  allegations.

He also said that the UDF did not require Mr. Vijayan’s certificate for  fighting against the Sangh Parivar outfits. Mr Vijayan  termed as ‘blatant lie’ the Opposition’s allegation that he had entered the well of the  House  on Thursday. He had done it after the speaker suspended the House due to some unusual situation.  Mr Chennithala said that no other chief ministers in the hisotry of the Assembly had  entered the well of the House. The Opposition MLAs reached the House with placards protesting against the chief minister’s statement. As the proceedings  began, the Opposition Leader urged the Speaker to convey his decision on their demand to expunge the chief minister’s allegation.

But Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan said that he would give his ruling after examining the matter. Subsequently, the  Opposition created noisy scenes. Reacting to it, Mr Vijayan  said that the Opposition Leader and the members seemed to be disturbed when adverse remarks were made against the Shiv Sena and Sangh Parivar outfits and that this was the reason for the Opposition’s protest. Mr Chennithala alleged that the speaker was not protecting the rights of the Opposition.