‘Speaker, govt curbing right to ask Qs’

T'puram: The opposition protest in the assembly began right from the start of the session on Monday morning during the question hour. Opposition leader V D Satheesan protested against making the UDF MLAs' starred questions unstarred, which he claimed was against rules. Satheesan accused the govt and the speaker of jointly curtailing the opposition's right to ask questions in the assembly. He said that if this approach continues, they will not ask any questions during the session.However, speaker A N Shamseer clarified that the classification of questions into starred and unstarred was done without any discrimination and as per the prescribed rules. The speaker also pointed out that all the questions raised in the opposition leader's complaint were of local significance and based on arguments or assumptions. The speaker said making the questions public through the media before raising them in the assembly was a breach of privilege.But Satheesan questioned the speaker and asked whether the issue of the ADGP meeting with RSS leaders was not significant. Following this, the opposition members trooped into the well of the House with placards and slogans. The chief minister, while intervening in this, said that the govt has never been afraid of questions and has answered all queries in the assembly.When T Siddique was invited by the speaker to ask the first question to the chief minister regarding parking exemptions for building complexes, the opposition members did not cooperate with the speaker. Consequently, the chief minister stood up to respond to a ruling party member's question about the relief fund. During the CM's response, the opposition disrupted the question hour, which provoked the ruling party members.Amid the protest, when the opposition leader stood up to speak, the speaker did not allowed him to use the microphone. The speaker maintained that the microphone would not be granted unless the opposition members returned to their seats. Though some members returned, Mathew Kuzhalnadan's protest in front of the dais against not giving the microphone to the opposition leader led the speaker to question who the opposition leader was, suggesting there were many leaders donning his role inside the House.This provoked the opposition leader, and Satheesan criticised the speaker in strong language. Subsequently, the opposition boycotted the question hour. As the opposition leader levelled allegations against the speaker, the ruling party benches were agitated. The chief minister and parliamentary affairs minister M B Rajesh came out strongly against the opposition leader. The question hour continued after the speaker removed the statements made by Satheesan against him and the responses made by the chief minister and Rajesh from the assembly records.
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