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Kerala
By Our Special Correspondent
The Legislature Secretariat has rejected the CPI(M) Legislature Party deputy leader, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan's notice seeking removal of the Speaker, Vakkom Purushothaman, from office. In a communication served on Mr. Balakrishan today, the Legislature Secretary, K. R. Udayabhanu, said the Legislature Secretariat could not take any action on the matter as the Speaker had no authority to convene the House on his own. Any decision in the matter should be taken by the Governor on the advice of the Cabinet, he pointed out. Reacting to the Legislature Secretary's communication, Mr. Balakrishnan told reporters that the decision amounted to breach of the Constitutional provisions. The Secretary's communication was clearly at the instance of the Speaker. As such it showed that the Speaker was confident that he enjoyed the support of the majority in the House. According to him, the Speaker would have taken the initiative to convene the Assembly if he was confident that he enjoyed the faith of the House. The Opposition LDF would challenge the Speaker and the Government to prove that it was not so, he said and added that the Cabinet can very well take the decision on Wednesday without waiting for technical niceties. The CPI(M) leader pointed out that the Speaker had himself admitted to his having solicited votes for the UDF candidate in the Ernakulam by-election. This he had done after the notice seeking his removal was filed. This clearly proved the Opposition charge against him to be true. When the 10th Schedule relating to defections was incorporated in the Constitution, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker were exempted from it because they were not expected to be part of political parties and were to remain neutral under all circumstances. With Mr. Purushothaman's latest confession about the role he had played in the Ernakulam by-election, it had become clear that he had lost his right to hold the Speaker's office, Mr. Balakrishnan said. On the Speaker's claim that half the CPI(M) members would vote in his favour if there was to be a secret ballot on the Opposition motion seeking his removal, Mr. Balakrishnan said the appropriate thing to examine whether his claim was true was to convene the Assembly and facilitate a voting on the issue. He also went on to add that contrary to what had been stated by the Speaker, in the event of a secret ballot, several Antony faction members would not vote for him. ``Not even Hassan, who had described the Speaker as a lion, would vote for him,'' Mr. Balakrishnan quipped. The CPI(M) deputy legislature party leader said the Opposition hoped that the Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, would prove his sincerity about transparency and consensus in politics by agreeing to convene an urgent session of the Assembly to take up the notice for the Speaker's removal. Asked whether the Opposition would approach the Governor directly if the Government rejected its plea, Mr. Balakrishnan said the LDF would rather wait for the Government response before deciding on its future course of action. Pointing out that the KPCC president, K. Muraleedharan, the RSP (B) general secretary, A. V. Thamarakshan, and the KC(B) leader, R. Balakrishna Pillai, had also sought convening of the Assembly, the CPI(M) leader said their statements were proof that the Opposition demand for convening of the Assembly to take up the motion for Mr. Purushothaman as Speaker was quite valid. ``The people have displayed their anger towards the Government in the Ernakulam by-election. Now, let the MLAs show us where they stand,'' Mr. Balakrishnan said.
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