On first day of Kerala Assembly session, Opposition disrupts proceedings over attack on Rahul Gandhi’s Wayanad office

Although the Speaker suspended the proceedings for a short time, the Opposition members trooped to the well of the House. The members of the ruling bench also joined the commotion shouting slogans against the Opposition, which boycotted the proceedings. The Assembly was then adjourned for the day after obituary references.

Later, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the media that the Opposition wanted to disrupt the proceedings. “The Opposition has given notice for an adjournment motion to discuss the attack on Rahul Gandhi office. But they took a stand that the motion should not come up for discussion. If it was presented, the government would have given its reply. But they were not ready to hear the government reply. Never before had the Opposition taken such a stand in the assembly. Because, they wanted to avoid the reply on this issue,” he said.

Opposition Leader V D Satheesan later told the media that the Opposition wanted the attack on Rahul Gandhi’s office to be discussed after suspending the proceedings. “We had served notice for discussing it. When we raised slogans, even ministers were trying to suppress the rights of the opposition. Even ministers were raising provocative slogans, which showed the ruling bench wanted to create tension in the assembly. Hence, we have decided to boycott the assembly,” said Satheesan.

Satheesan said CM Vijayan is behaving like Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Vijayan is following the model of Modi. Vijayan is behaving like an autocrat. When the Opposition members were raising the protest, Sabha TV did not stream the visuals of the protest, which is against the freedom of the media,’’ he said.