House fails to break stalemate

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, OCT. 29. The Kerala Assembly today let go of a fine opportunity to end the 11-day-old stand-off between the Government and the Opposition despite the latter giving sufficient hints that it is prepared to climb down from its original position on the happenings in the House on October 18 leading to suspension of three LDF legislators.

The Opposition today allowed the question hour to proceed smoothly, though without themselves putting questions to the Ministers.

It seemed eager to latch on to the lifeline that the Chief Minister, Mr. A.K. Antony, appeared to offer with his recent statement that the Government would reconsider its stand on the suspension of the three LDF legislators if the Opposition cooperated with the proceedings. But that was not to be.

Raising the issue as soon as the zero hour began, the CPI(M) Deputy Legislature Party leader, Mr. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, said the Opposition was taking the Chief Minister's offer on its face value and would agree to any measure that would facilitate the smooth conduct of the proceedings of the House. The Government should not stand on prestige and withdraw the suspensions.

But the Chief Minister made it clear that there could be no adjournment of the proceedings.

Terming the Opposition stir as one directed against the House, the Chief Minister said he had only stated that the Government would be agreeable to reducing the period of suspension of the LDF members if the Opposition ended its stir and cooperated with the proceedings.

He reminded the Opposition about the serious business before the House during the current session. Several important Bills were proposed to be introduced in the House during the session.

The Government did not wish to keep the MLAs out till the end of the session. The Speaker could hold a meeting of party leaders at an appropriate time to find a solution to the stalemate, he said.

The CPI(M) leader described the Chief Minister's stand as unfortunate and urged the Government not to prolong the issue to derive political mileage from it.

In between, Mr. Balakrishnan was engaged in a brief exchange with the Speaker, Mr. Vakkom Purushothaman, who pointed out that the video tape of the House did not contain visuals of the LDF legislators assaulting the Transport Minister, Mr. K.B. Ganesh Kumar.

The tapes, he said, contained only visuals of some MLAs snatching papers from the Assembly scribes, climbing on the scribes' table, shouting slogans against the Chair and moving towards the Minister. The subsequent visual is that of LDF members surrounding the Minister and the same could be shown to Mr. Balakrishnan, the Speaker said.

Mr. Balakrishnan said the absence of visuals of the alleged incident itself was proof that no such incident had taken place. But the Speaker contested his claim and said all those present in the House had seen what had transpired.

With the Government showing little sign of relenting from its earlier stance, the Opposition trooped into the well of the House shouting slogans and squatted there till the House rushed through the business slated for the day.

The demands for Irrigation, Water Supply and Sanitation departments were passed by the House. The whole business was over in about three minutes.

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