Thiruvananthapuram:Four Congress MLAs were censured by Kerala Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan on Thursday for climbing on to his dais and raising slogans, violating rules and lowering the dignity of the house as the Opposition boycotted proceedings for a second consecutive day.
The MLAs who were censured-Roji M John, I C Balakrishnan, Anwar Sadat, and Eldose Kunnapally- had climbed on to the Speaker's dais to protest the police lathi-charge in which Palakkad MLA Shafi Parambil and activists of Kerala Students Union (KSU) were injured.
When the House assembled this morning, the Opposition stuck to its demand for suspending the police officials, who had hit the MLA and KSU activists resulting in injuries before a probe, which was not accepted.
The opposition wanted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to respond to its demand and when that was not forthcoming, they staged a walkout.
The opposition members once again trooped into the house after question hour, when the Speaker read out his order censuring the MLAs.
In his ruling, the speaker said some unfortunate events occurred in the House on Wednesday.
"A few members of the Opposition on Wednesday climbed on the dais of the Speaker even as the Opposition leader was speaking. They disrupted the Assembly proceedings and the House was temporarily adjourned. Earlier also, when there were such instances of violation of code of conduct inside the Legislature, the Chair had taken action...," he said.
Protests and healthy discussions were welcome, but the Chair has the responsibility to check the practices that go against the rules and regulations and procedures of the House, he added.
Describing the Speaker's action as "unilateral", Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala alleged they had not been taken into confidence before it was taken.