: The 14th session of the State Assembly will begin here on Monday amid widespread speculation that the previous session’s impasse over the resignation of Finance Minister K.M. Mani will continue because the core issues that triggered the Opposition attempts to disrupt budget presentation and other allied proceedings are yet to be resolved.
Speaker N. Sakthan did make an attempt to sort out the issue by convening a meeting of leaders of political parties that have representation in the Assembly, but much before the meeting began, it became quite certain that the Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) will not oblige him.
The Assembly session was convened much before the election date of the Aruvikkara by-election was announced.
With the by-election hanging against the background, the LDF is unlikely to give up the opportunity that an Assembly session would provide to put the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) on the mat.
The previous session witnessed a bedlam right from day one, with the Opposition even bending backwards to prevent Mr. Mani from presenting his record-breaking 13th budget speech, with the bar bribery charges providing it the handle to beat the ruling bench. Nothing much has changed since then other than the Vigilance probe into the charges against Mr. Mani and another set of charges against Excise Minister K. Babu.
Apart from the bar bribery cases, the Opposition will also make an attempt to turn the heat on Chief Minister Oommen Chandy against the backdrop of the latest developments in the CBI probe into the Kadakampally-Aluva land grab cases involving his former security personnel Salim Raj and the latter’s subsequent arrest.
The only issue before the LDF is whether to launch its stir in the Assembly right from the question hour or wait till the zero hour to do so. LDF leaders will meet on Monday morning shortly before the session begins to finalise their strategy, but given the levels of confrontation, the disruptions might begin from question hour itself.
The Business Advisory Committee of the Assembly is scheduled to meet on Monday to decide whether the session should be rescheduled in view of the Aruvikkara by-election. The electioneering is currently gathering momentum.
