Five women MLAs of the Opposition have accused Congress members of the State Assembly of carrying out a premeditated attack on them in the Assembly on budget presentation day on March 13.
Presenting visuals of the ‘sequence of events’ that unfolded in the Assembly, Jameela Prakasam, K.K. Lathika, E.S. Bijimol, K.K. Saleekha, and Geetha Gopi told reporters here on Tuesday in the presence of the Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan that Congress legislators K. Sivadasan Nair, Dominic Presentation, M.A. Vahid, A.T. George, and Benny Behanan physically assaulted them. in the presence of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Ms. Prakasam denied the UDF allegation that she had attempted to assault Mr. Chandy. Displaying clips of the incidents, that took place over 90 seconds, Ms. Prakasam said the Opposition members had the freedom to move to the treasury bench before the session began. They moved to the treasury bench to prevent Finance Minister K.M. Mani from presenting the budget.
She said Mr. Sivadasan Nair had targeted her and Ms. Bijimol right from the beginning. Mr. Behanan had shouted at them. Ms. Prakasam said Mr. Presentation had abused her by calling the caste name of her husband, A. Neelalohitadasan Nadar.
The LDF members who noticed the attack on the women members rushed to their rescue. Some of them got enraged and targeted the dais. As per the draft Women’s Bill in circulation, the Speaker was the custodian of the legislature and was bound to give protection to all members, especially women, from harassment. The deeds of the UDF MLAs bordered on sexual harassment and hence action should be taken against them, she said.
