Uproar in Kerala Assembly: Demands for Grants guillotined

With the solar panel scam continuing to disrupt proceedings, Kerala Assembly sittings were suspended till July 8 after passage of demands for grants through the guillotine route amid vehement protest by opposition LDF.

Thiruvananthapuram: With the solar panel scam continuing to disrupt proceedings since last week, Kerala Assembly sittings were on Monday suspended till July 8 after passage of demands for grants through the guillotine route amid vehement protest by opposition LDF.

The opposition has been demanding resignation of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy over the solar scam issue since early last week. As the House plunged into uproar with ruling UDF and the LDF trading charges during the Zero Hour today, Speaker G Karthikeyan first adjourned the proceedings. Later he suspended the sittings when it re-assembled after a two-hour break as no patch-up could be reached between the two sides. The Chief Minister moved a resolution urging the Speaker to pass the grants without discussion and to suspend the sittings scheduled till July 8 in view of the continuous disruption of the proceedings since June 17. The LDF, already targeting Chandy over the `solar panel` scam, took up the case of an employee in his office allegedly seeking "sexual favour" from a woman who called him to air some grievances. The opposition also linked the incident to the solar scam and alleged that chief minister`s office was under the cloud of suspicion and reiterated their demand for Chandy`s resignation and judicial probe covering the entire gamut of issues that cropped up recently. Refuting the opposition charge, Home Minister Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan said as soon the complaint of the woman came to the government`s notice the call center employee had been removed from service. When the Minister made an apparent allusion to the sexual harassment case faced by LDF MLA Jose Thettayil (JD-S), the opposition got provoked leading to noisy scenes. The House plunged into turmoil when Leader of Opposition V S Achuthanandan made some adverses references to the family matters of Chandy. Sensing the situation slipping out of hand, the Speaker adjourned the House. When the sitting resumed, the LDF members kept up their protest and rushed to well of the House shouting slogans. The Speaker then asked the government to rush through the day`s business and then suspended the sittings scheduled till July 8 based on the Chief Minister`s resolution. PTI