States hall of shame

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The turn of  events over the unsavoury incidents in the Assembly centred on the behaviour of  two young CPM MLAs and their eventual suspension followed by an indefinite dharna inside the House is putting the state to shame.The release of the contentious clippings of Friday as well as those depicting the behaviour of the two MLAs on Monday gave another twist to the whole issue. That a local CPM leader sneaked into the hall and addressed the LDF MLAs sitting on dharna on Monday has also raised  many an eyebrow.Even as the LDF is alleging that the MLAs’ suspension was a well-orchestrated drama by the UDF in violation of  an understanding reached at Monday’s discussions between Speaker G Karthikeyan and various party leaders followed by the tendering of a conditional verbal apology by Rajesh and James Mathew, the fact remains that only few  could  justify the crossing of  all limits by the LDF.The questioning by the two MLAs of the ruling by Karthikeyan that they had tendered an “apology”  changed the entire scenario within seconds.“Even defying the common stance of UDF MLAs not to go in for any compromise, the govt was ready for a patch-up,” said Rural Development Minister K C Joseph. “The foul language used by the two MLAs against the Speaker made even some of the LDF leaders speechless,” he added.“The stand-off can be ended if the Speaker, Leader of the House and Opposition Leader hold consultations. The Assembly had witnessed even much more heat during my tenure also. But nobody was suspended,” said Former Speaker M Vijayakumar.With the ball in the court of Speaker to find ways for a rapprochement between the two sides, only a give-and-take policy by both will pave way for the smooth functioning of the Assembly.