Kerala chief minister loses cool in Assembly, rebukes opposition

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday lost his cool on the floor of the assembly and spoke sharply at senior Congress legislator V D Sateeshan, who raised the issue of bickering between senior state bureaucrats.

The immediate provocation for Vijayan to lose his cool was when Sateeshan referred to his economic adviser Gita Gopinath’s father who runs a farm from which the state-run Horticrop was procuring vegetables and was paying promptly, while he alleged, poor vegetable farmers in Idukki district were not getting paid on time.

Sateeshan sought leave for an adjournment motion to discuss the serious difference of opinion that have surfaced in the open among top bureaucrats and police officials.

“The whole of yesterday it was a ‘live’ battle between the principal secretary (agriculture) Raju Narayana Swamy and his junior Biju Prabakaran — agriculture director, with each accusing the other. The irony is that all this is happening on the eve of the first anniversary of your government.

What’s important is that the agriculture department headed by these two top officials handles around Rs 2,000 crore projects every year and they have been at war.

Your advisor Gita Gopinath’s father is only one supplier of vegetables here and he is getting paid, while other poor farmers in Idukki district are not getting paid,” said Sateeshan.

Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan expressed his displeasure, saying that the Congress leader is straying away from the main topic and raising unnecessary issues. This was strongly contested by the opposition benches, led by Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala.

With the treasury benches also raising their voices, angry opposition legislators rushed towards the Speaker’s chair.

Vijayan was up on his feet and accused the opposition of attempting to threaten the Speaker.

“This is not the way legislators should behave in the House, especially with the Speaker. The top leadership of the opposition should see that such things do not happen,” said an angry Vijayan.

Chennithala intervened, saying that they know very well how to behave in the House.

“It’s because you do not know in the past what all happened in the House. We have never behaved in an unruly manner.