The Assembly witnessed uproar and a boycott of the proceedings by the Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) members on Thursday after the Speaker refused to grant leave for an adjournment motion on the Vigilance case relating to the public sector Travancore Titanium Products (TTP) Limited.
The Opposition brought the sitting to a halt lasting nearly 45 minutes and later announced their decision to boycott the day’s proceedings after staging a walkout on resumption. The two sides clashed when Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan used the customary speech before the walkout to attack Congress MLA K. Muraleedharan over his speech in the House on Wednesday.
The Opposition motion, moved by Elamaram Kareem (CPI-M), sought to raise a discussion on what they termed the government’s attempts to subvert the Vigilance investigation into the alleged corruption in installation of effluent treatment plant through a Ranchi-based company without inviting global tenders.
The Vigilance Court had ordered registration of an FIR against nine persons, including Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, Public Works Minister V.K. Ebrahim Kunju and officials of the company. The government had sought a stay. The Vigilance Court had, earlier this week, asked the VACB to submit a report on the progress of the probe on March 19.
