The Kerala Assembly adjourned indefinitely this morning with a rampant Opposition continuing with its protests on reconvening from a week-long recess.
It transacted urgent financial business – including the vote-on-account, supplementary demands for grants and the finance bill – before the Speaker applied the guillotine.
The House was scheduled to have met until April 9, but protests over presentation of the 2015-16 budget forced the cancellation of question hour, zero hour and submissions on the first morning itself when it reconvened.
The Opposition entered the well demanding revocation of suspension of five MLAs for acts of violence committed in the House on the budget day, March 13.
It also demanded action against counterparts in the ruling front for disrespect shown to its women members in the scuffle that broke out on budget day.
It maintained that it would have agreed had any other Minister been assigned to present the budget.
Forfeits rights
All the Finance Minister managed to do was mumble something from the budget papers in a House which the Speaker had failed to call in order and also lacked quorum.
The Opposition stuck to its stance that no budget was passed on the day by a Finance Minister who had forfeited the right after being accused in a bribery charge.
There was no case for a vote-on-account on a ‘budget that was not presented in the House.’ By the same token, demand for supplementary grants and the finance bill said to have been passed this morning do not stand scrutiny.
With the Speaker adjourning the session, the suspension order on the five Opposition MLAS too had spent itself out.
Emerging from the House, leaders of the Opposition said it will carry out its campaign against the government outside house.