Three United Democratic Front (UDF) MLAs V.S. Sivakumar, Parakkal Abdulla and N. Jayaraj, who had been staging a satyagraha in the foyer of the Assembly for the past 11 days demanding lifting of ban orders in Sabarimala, called off their protest on Thursday.
The Opposition UDF boycotted the question hour in the Assembly in protest against the government stance of refusing to hold discussions with them to end the protest. The Opposition had been consistently raising the demand for settling the satyagraha, but the government reiterated that the decision to impose the ban orders was made on the basis of reports of officials and hence could not concede the demand to lift the prohibitory orders in Sabarimala.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala criticised the government for refusing to engage the Opposition to end the satyagraha. He said the UDF would continue the agitation outside the Assembly.
