Rahul office vandalism disrupts Kerala House

Thiruvananthapuram: The fifth session of the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly was adjourned for the day on Monday after the opposition members started shouting slogans demanding action in connection with the recent vandalism of Rahul Gandhi's Wayanad office allegedly by SFI activists.

After the session was initially adjourned just a couple of minutes after the question hour began at 9 AM, it was reconvened at 10 AM amidst continuing sloganeering by opposition members, some wearing black shirts, who raised placards and banners against the vandalism of Rahul Gandhi's office and the gold smuggling related allegations against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

They quietened down only for a few m i n - u t e s w h e n Speaker M B Rajesh was reading out obituaries of eight former MLAs, including M P Govindan Nair, K Sankara Narayanan, K G Kunjikrishna Pillai, S Thyagarajan and P Gopalakrishnan, who had passed away in the last few months.

As soon as obituaries were over, the protesting MLAs entered the well of the House and waved placards and banners right in front of the Speaker's dais and shouted slogans demanding an apology from the CM for the vandalism of Rahul Gandhi's office as well as action against SFI whose workers have been accused of carrying out the attack.

The protesting opposition MLAs did not stop their sloganeering even after the Speaker said he was going to take up the notice tabled by Congress MLA T Siddique. Subsequently, the Speaker, amidst the continuing protests, allowed the tabling of the reports of the various assembly committees by the ministers heading the same and thereafter, adjourned the House for the day at 10.24 AM. He said the session would reconvene on Tuesday morning.

After the session was adjourned, opposition members walked out of the Assembly waving placards and carrying a black banner which termed the vandalising of Gandhi's office as barbaric. They also chanted slogans of protest as they walked out of the Assembly premises.

Speaking to reporters outside the assembly gates, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan said that UDF had given a notice to discuss the attack on Rahul Gandhi's office and raised slogans regarding that in the House.

However, the ruling front tried to suppress the voice of the opposition and also raised slogans which were provocative in nature which led to the further disruption of the House proceedings, he alleged. Satheesan further alleged that the attack on Rahul Gandhi's office was carried out with the active knowledge of the Chief Minister's Office and under the leadership of a former staff member of state Health Minister Veena George.

George's former staff member, though removed from office, was still not an accused in the case registered in connection with vandalising Rahul Gandhi's office, he contended. The LoP also alleged that the attack was carried out to appease the Sangh Parivar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, who want to oust Gandhi from Wayanad, to escape the sword of Damocles – in the form of central agencies investigation in the gold smuggling case – that was hanging over the CM's head. –PTI