'Kerala assembly impasse should end'

Thiruvanthapuram, March 20: The impasse in the Kerala assembly should end, the Congress said on Friday. State Congress president V.M.Sudheeran said the assembly is not just the property of the treasury or the opposition legislators but it is of the people and hence this impasse should end. “The speaker, chief minister, leader of opposition and other party leaders should sit and solve the issues. When I was the speaker, we had only the audio tapes to have a verification, but today there are live pictures and all should sit around and have a look at the video and decide. What happened last week is not acceptable at all,” said Sudheeran. The Left opposition created a huge ruckus last Friday while trying to prevent Fince Minister K.M. Mani from presenting the budget as he was an accused in a bribery case.

They smashed the speaker’s dais and caused damage amounting to Rs. five lakhs. The six women legislators of the Left Front were seen rushing towards Mani’s seat and in the melee, some of them fell down. On Monday the assembly reconvened only to suspend five Left opposition legislators for their unruly behaviour and for damaging the speaker’s chamber, for the rest of the session.

When they refused to leave the house, the speaker cancelled its sittings for a week. Later, Leader of Opposition V.S.Achuthandan said five of their women legislators were sexually assaulted by five treasury bench legislators. On March 23, when the house reconvenes, it remains to be seen if proceedings will take place as the five women legislators plan to register a case against five UDF legislators including a minister. (IANS)