Ruckus erupted outside the Kerala Assembly today as Opposition MLAs of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), staged a protest outside the Speaker’s office and had to be forcibly lifted off the ground by security guards.

Visuals of the incident have surfaced on social media showing the guards forcibly lifting the MLAs who are laying on the ground and refusing to budge outside Speaker AN Shamsheer’s office. The security men finally manage to forcibly lift the MLAs off the ground and out of the building.

Watch the video here:

Speaking to the media, V D Satheesan—Leader of Opposition in the Assembly said four opposition lawmakers— Rema, A K M Ashraf, T V Ibrahim and Saneesh Kumar—were allegedly injured in the incident.

Satheesan lashed out at the Kerala government, claiming it was continuously trampling the democratic rights of the Opposition in the House. “We tried to present the issue of the recent brutal assault faced by a minor girl as an adjournment motion but its notice was denied by the Speaker without any valid reason.”

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The Opposition leader alleged that former Kerala home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan was pushed while MLA KK Rema’s hand was twisted and dragged on the floor by four-five women marshals.

Satheesan accused Speaker AN Shamsheer of functioning in a biased manner under pressure from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, adding that CM Vijayan was “terrified of questions” and wants to wind up ongoing Assembly session as fast he can.

The Opposition legislators had staged a protest outside the Speaker’s office after their adjournment motion to discuss the safety of women was turned down. On Tuesday, another adjournment motion to discuss police action against Congress councillors protesting over the Kochi dumpyard fire was also rejected.

Commotion erupted in the house as soon as the Speaker announced that the adjournment motion cannot be taken up as UDF legislators started sloganeering and waving banners against the Vijayan-led government. The lawmakers then walked out of the House and marched to the Speaker’s office where they were blocked by the Watch and Ward staff, who manage security in the state legislature and report to the Speaker.

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Wednesday, grilled Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s aide CM Raveendran for second consecutive day in connection with its ongoing probe into the Life Mission Scam case.

Yesterday, CM Raveendran, additional secretary to Kerala CM Vijayan was questioned by the probe agency for nine hours from 10:30 am in the morning to 7:30 pm in the evening.

The probe agency had issued a notice to Raveendran in the LIFE Mission scam case on February 23, however, he could not appear before the ED on February 27 for questioning as the legislative assembly session was underway at Thiruvananthapuram.

Former Principal Secretary to the Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, M Sivasankar, was remanded to judicial custody till March 8, by a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court in the LIFE Mission Scam case.

On February 16, the remand report submitted by ED in the PMLA Court against Sivasankar in the LIFE Mission Scam Case, revealed some WhatsApp chats between him and other accused Swapna Suresh.

The report claimed a large nexus involving government representatives in the allocation of contracts and the generation of proceeds of crime via the upfront commission as a bribe. The report read as follows: “In his WhatsApp message sent to Swapna on July 31, 2019, Sivasankar warned Swapna to be very careful and asked to take care. In his WhatsApp message, Sivasankar told Swapna not to get involved and warned her that if something goes wrong, they would put blame on her. He also told Swapna to keep away from the process to which Swapna replied that she would give it to Sarith and Khalid (other suspects in the case). Sivasankar also told Swapna that CM had asked him to get a job for Swapna.”

According to the ED report, material evidence such as the WhatsApp conversation between Swapna Suresh and Sivasankar and the statement given by Suresh, clearly indicates that there is a larger nexus involving government representatives in the allocation of contracts and generation of proceeds of crime via the upfront commission as a bribe.

The principal of a government college in the Kasargod district of Kerala has been fired for locking students in her chamber. The students were protesting for clean water, reports said.

Last week on Monday, the students of a government college in Kerala’s Kasargod held a protest on campus against the contaminated drinking water in the campus. The students had complained to the principal, M Rema, earlier but no actions were taken.

When the students informed the principal that the drinking water was contaminated, Rema bashed them for protesting and did not allow them to have a discussion. She made them stand and talk the entire time, reports said.

Even after the requests, the principal did not offer any help and locked up the students inside her chamber. Following this, the students went on a strike under the leadership of SFI and demanded her resignation. The student representatives also sent a complaint to the higher education department and the minister.

Based on the complaints filed by the students and due to the careless behaviour shown regarding students’ health and safety, M Rema was removed from her position as the principal.

Kerala’s Higher Education Minister R Bindu also informed that the principal has been removed following the complaint filed by the students. As a replacement, Dr AN Ananthapadmanabha, who was in the role of senior faculty under the geology department in the college, was appointed as the new principal.

She was also given the power to handle the financial matters of the college, reports stated.