Kerala Appropriation Bill: By skin of its teeth

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ruling UDF was ‘almost’ voted out in the Assembly on Wednesday following the absence of a number of Treasury Bench members at the time of voting on the Kerala Appropriation Bill.Opposition members boycotted the House and did not take part in the discussion on the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland (Amendment) Bill, 2011 alleging partisan stand by the Speaker in favour of the UDF.Later, LDF leaders led by Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan met Governor R S Gavai and petitioned him against giving consent to the Appropriation Bill. They alleged that Speaker G Karthikeyan had acted in a partisan way. They also alleged that the vote of one of the members who was absent was also cast by someone else. The Speaker purposefully delayed the voting so as to ensure the presence of more UDF members, they complained.The final day of the first session of the 13th Kerala Assembly had been proceeding on a tense note following the Speaker’s denial of permission to  former Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac to present the alternative white paper on state’s finances. The chord of disharmony got tightened when it was time for voting of the Finance Bill.When the first reading and the second reading of the Bill were completed, four members of the UDF, Hibi Eden, T U Kuruvilla, A Achuthan and Varkala Kahar, were absent. On the LDF side, Purushan Kadalundi of the CPM was the only absentee. This meant that number of members of both the UDF and the LDF excluding the Speaker at that time was 67.As the Finance Minister sat down after the third reading, Speaker G Karthikeyan began the procedures for voting. Meanwhile, the Finance Minister started to speak amidst the demand from the Opposition for voting. Following this, the Opposition rushed to the well of the House. Soon Achuthan came back to the House and the bells for voting rang.Though Opposition members returned to their seats, they abstained from voting alleging partisan stand by the Speaker. Opposition Leader Achuthanandan later told a press conference that the Speaker delayed the voting procedures to enable the UDF members, who had been in toddy shops and tea shops, to vote. Criticising the stand of the Opposition, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy termed their behaviour as farcical.