Kerala Assembly Speaker protests

Thiruvananthapuram: Speaker N. Sakthan today kept off from chairing the House in the morning reportedly in protest against Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala criticising him for asking members to cut short their speeches on Bills on Wednesday.

The Speaker, however, returned to the House in the afternoon following mediation by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and other Ministers. The Office of Home Minister clarified through a statement that Mr. Chennthala had objected to curtailing of the debate because he was not aware that the Chief Minister had requested the Speaker to do so because a Ministerial delegation was to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 5 pm. Mr. Chennithala also telephoned the Speaker to clarify the matter.