Sloganeering UDF legislators marred the Question Hour in Assembly on Tuesday, irking Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan.
The Opposition wanted Health Minister K.K. Shylaja to resign over allegations of botched-up nominations to the State Child Rights Commission. Four UDF legislators, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishan, K. Muraleedharan, Anwar Sadath and V.T. Balram, were engaged in sloganeering with the other legislators and refused to raise the listed question on fever deaths and the steps taken to contain it. Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan then skipped the question and went to the next one.
Earlier, the UDF legislators displayed banner and placards seeking Mrs. Shylaja’s resignation when the Speaker called Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to answer the first question. But the protest died down as Mr. Vijayan persisted with his reply on waterways despite the show of dissent.
The Opposition legislators perked up again when the Speaker called the Health Minister to reply to a question raised by George M. Thomas on incidents of cholera and steps to prevent the epidemic. There were noisy scenes in the Assembly even when the Minister was replying to questions posed by O.R. Kelu, Raju Abraham and N. Vijayan Pillai.
“You have different ways to register the protest in the House. Don’t disturb the Question Hour when important social issues are raised. The whole world is watching you,” the Speaker reminded the Opposition legislators. But the appeal fell on deaf ears.
