The Hindu : Front Page : Nine Congress MLAs resign from Assembly

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Wednesday, Jul 06, 2005

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Nine Congress MLAs resign from Assembly

Our Staff Reporter

All of them join National Congress(I)

STEPPING DOWN: Congress MLAs owing allegiance to K. Karunakaran coming out of the Legislative Assembly Complex in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday after submitting their resignation from the House to the Speaker. Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ending uncertainties that lasted several months, nine Congress MLAs owing allegiance to the newly formed National Congress (Indira) resigned their membership of the House on Tuesday. In the process, they also created history, for such a collective resignation by MLAs is being effected for the first time in Kerala.

The nine MLAs were M. P. Gangadharan (Ponnani), P. Sankaran (Koyilandy), Shobhana George (Chenagannur), Malethu Sarala Devi (Aranmula), Radha Raghavan (North Wayanad), T.V. Chandramohan (Kunnamkulam), D. Sugathan (Ambalappuzha), M. A. Chandrasekharan (Vadakkekara) and N. D. Appachan (Sultan Bathery).

They came walking to the Legislature Complex from the nearby MLA Hostel, accompanied by a host of party workers, shouting slogans in support of the NC(I). They had to wait for nearly 10 minutes for the arrival of Speaker Therambil Ramakrishnan at his chamber at 8 a.m.

It was Ms. George who first handed over her resignation letter to the Speaker. The others soon followed, even as the Speaker was busy signing the letters and handing them over to his personal staff. The resignation letters were treated as having been accepted.

The senior-most among them, Mr. Gangadharan thanked the Speaker for all the support given to them in their capacity as members of the legislature. The Speaker, then, offered them tea. They said they would be joining the NC(I) on Tuesday itself.

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