CM, Leader of the Opposition trade jibes over mode of address in Keralam Assembly
Pinarayi takes a dig at Satheesan’s habit of turning to the UDF members, instead of the Speaker, while addressing the House. CM defends his ‘style of presentation,’ says he will not imitate the Leader of the Opposition
When a member speaks in the State Legislative Assembly, where exactly should he or she look? On Monday, the Keralam Assembly saw Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan and Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan trading jibes over the point much to the amusement of the members and Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan.
The brief episode took place when, after speaking, Mr. Satheesan sat down and Mr. Vijayan rose amid heated exchanges between the ruling UDF and Opposition LDF over the former’s decision to pick Deepak Singhal, a former Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary, as a member of a key health sector task force.
Having risen, Mr. Vijayan immediately turned to the Opposition members. He said he was confused over whether he should look at them while speaking or at the Speaker, Mr. Radhakrishnan. “Normally I don’t look this way when I speak. I keep my eyes on the Speaker,” he said, in an apparent dig at Mr. Satheesan’s habit of occasionally turning to the UDF members when addressing the House.
Mr. Satheesan promptly rose to defend himself. He said individuals have their own style of presentation. “I will not imitate your style for whatever reason. I have a different style. You should not mock it,” he said, going on to add that Mr. Vijayan had resorted to poking fun at him when he could not counter the government’s stand on the matter under discussion. He also took a dig at the Opposition saying that he turned to the members of his front now and then as there were 102 of them, an apparent reference to the UDF’s massive 2026 Assembly election victory.
Mr. Vijayan replied that the parliamentary system dictated that members “speak through the Speaker.” While Mr. Radhakrishnan concurred, the Chief Minister countered that while the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure do state that a member should ‘address’ the Speaker, they do not specify where he/she should look.
As this drew more laughs from the members, Mr. Vijayan turned to Mr. Radhakrishnan with a smile and retorted, “the respected Chief Minister seems to have corrected you.” Mr. Radhakrishnan replied that he did not wish to get into a dispute over it.
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