Uproar over minister's alleged comments on KIIFB

Thiruvananthapuram: The Opposition created an uproar in the Assembly on Tuesday over the reported statement by PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran that the working of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board reflected the “lack of collective responsibility” in the cabinet.

Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan rejected the notice for an adjournment motion  saying that the KIIFB was discussed and a law on the same was approved by the Assembly. The issue could be taken up during the discussions on  the demands for grants, he said.

The UDF members raised slogans when the speaker rejected the notice. However, they cooperated when the speaker announced that the issue could be taken up as first submission by Mr V.D. Satheesan of the Congress.

The  Opposition staged a walkout  after the submission saying that there was a deliberate attempt by the chair to restrict the rights of the Opposition members.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, while replying to the submission, said that the UDF was taking up such 'trivial' matters based on press reports as they were suffering from 'dearth of issues.'

Quoting  Mr Sudhakaran's clarification issued to the media, Mr Vijayan said the minister himself had denied talking adversely about KIIFB and added that the reports attributed to him were  false.

Mr Satheesan said that he would produce the CD of the speech aired by a channel. However, Mr Vijayan alleged that the channel was under the control of BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar  and that it aired the news as per his political agenda.

Mr Chennithala termed the chief minister's remark as 'unfortunate' and reminded him that Mr M.G. Radhakrishnan, son of communist ideologue late P. Govinda Pillai, was the channel's editor.

Mr Sudhakaran,  while intervening,  said that he had not made any adverse comments against the functioning of KIIFB and only mentioned about certain procedures followed by successive governments while taking up development works.