Opposition slams Kerala Speaker

Kerala Assembly Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan on Tuesday came under heavy fire from the Congress-led opposition for rejecting their adjournment motion.

Trouble started right from the beginning of Question Hour at 8.30 a.m., with the opposition members shouting slogans in front of the Speaker's dais, holding banners and placards, and demanding justice for Shoaib, a Congress worker killed in Kannur district on February 12 and the murder of a tribal youth Madhu who was allegedly beaten to death by a group of men.

After 15 minutes of the ruckus, Sreeramakrishnan briefly adjourned the House and called the respective party leaders for discussion. However, when the House reassembled at 9.20 a.m., the slogan shouting continued.

Sreeramakrishnan then announced that the adjournment motion was not being taken up -- and thereafter proceeded with the business listed for the day.

The opposition was again up in arms and charged the Speaker with being afraid of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. They said that instead of acting like a Speaker, he was behaving like a Communist Party of India-Marxist Committee Secretary -- "dancing to the tunes of Vijayan out of fear".

Sreeramakrishnan then adjourned the House for the day.

On Monday, the House was adjourned within a few hours following the opposition's protest after the Vijayan government backtracked upon an earlier order for a CBI probe in the murder of Shoaib.

Later, speaking to media outside the assembly, Indian Union Muslim League legislator N. Shamsudeen, who represents the Mannarkad Assembly constituency in Palakkad district, said what happened in the Assembly and the way the Speaker behaved was unprecedented.

"I wanted to raise two unfortunate murders that took place in my constituency... one was that of the tribal youth Madhu who was beaten to death by a group of men, the other was that of party worker Zafeer, who was murdered. These are two very important things that I wanted to raise, but the Speaker did not allow this," said Shamsudeen.

Speaker Sreeramakrishnan later told media persons that he proposed to call a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the house on Wednesday to resolve the issue.

After Wednesday the next sitting of the house is on March 5.

--IANS

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