Thiruvananthapuram (Keralam) [India], May 21 (ANI): All eyes were riveted at CPI(M) veteran and Legislative Leader of Opposition in the Keralam Assembly Pinarayi Vijayan who moments after being sworn in as an MLA shook hands with Pro tem Speaker G Sudhakaran on Thursday, marking an end to the acrimonious run-up to the Assembly polls.
After Vijayan took his oath, he walked up to the Speaker’s podium, and Sudhakaran also got up from his chair and walked to greet the former chief minister of the state.
Sudhakaran had ended his over 60-year-old association with CPI(M) and contested as an Independent candidate with the backing of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) from Ambalapuzha in Alappuzha, his home constituency, from where he has been elected MLA four times previously.
Sudhakaran won the CPM’s stronghold with a huge margin of 27,935 votes in the elections, defeating the then-sitting MLA from CPI(M) H Salam.
Vijayan returned to the Assembly from Dharmadam and subsequently made the LoP.
Vijayan, who was Chief Minister at that time, decried Sudhakaran’s exit using the Malayalam derogatory word “chettatharam” to describe his “political betrayal.”
Meanwhile, Sudhakaran, after being sworn in as pro tem Speaker yesterday, said that he harboured no personal animosity towards Vijayan.
“After administering the taking oath ceremony, members will greet by extending their hands. So I will reciprocate, that is shake hands. So Pinarayi Vijayan, the former Chief Minister and my leader in the party, who was my leader in the party, who was the Chief Minister when I was a minister with him, he has no exemption…,” he told ANI.
Asked about the dismal result of the CPI(M), Sudhakaran said, “How did this happen? In Bengal, the CPIM front ruled for about 35 years. In Tripura, the CPI (M) front ruled for about 27 years. How CPI (M) was wiped out in West Bengal? CPI (M) strongholds fell in Tripura. To a certain extent, the Tripura comrades stood on some grounds. Even not in West Bengal. How did it happen? That should be explained, that is never been explained before the people. That should be explained by the central committee. That shall not repeat in Kerala. That precaution should have been taken some 10 years before. That did not–that was not taken. That’s why the communist ways are forgotten and they began to travel through another path. Which is neither communist nor bourgeois. It is a meaningless deviation. It will reach only to catastrophe. They will not–they will not be able to function as a capitalist party. They are not functioning as a communist party. It’s a catastrophe path. That is the poverty of ideology, or poverty of philosophy. That is what is happening. Before it was not like that.”
The 16th Kerala Legislative Assembly on Thursday commenced its inaugural session with the swearing-in ceremony of its newly elected MLAs in Thiruvananthapuram.
The proceedings were administered by Pro-tem Speaker G Sudhakaran, with Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) legislator V E Abdul Gafoor being the first to take the oath.
The 21-member cabinet led by Chief Minister V D Satheesan was previously sworn in on May 19.
The newly constituted House will hold a special session to elect its Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
The election for the Speaker is set for May 22, followed immediately by the election for the Deputy Speaker.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won three seats in the Kerala Assembly for the first time, will field its candidate in the election for the Speaker’s post, State party president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said today.
The Congress-led UDF has announced veteran leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan as its candidate for the Speaker’s post.
Gopakumar submitted his nomination papers to Assembly Secretary Shaji C Baby on Wednesday. He was accompanied by BJP MLAs Rajeev Chandrasekhar and V Muraleedharan.
Newly elected MLAs of the 16th Kerala Legislative Assembly were sworn in today, with the oath of office administered by Pro-tem Speaker G Sudhakaran.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) secured 102 of the 140 seats in the Assembly elections, while the Left Democratic Front won 35 seats and the BJP won three seats. (ANI)