Dollar smuggling: UDF boycotts assembly for the second consecutive day

The UDF on Friday continued to boycott the Kerala Assembly proceedings protesting against CM Pinarayi Vijayan's silence on the allegations raised against him by an accused in the controversial dollar smuggling scam. This is for the second consecutive day that the opposition has boycotted the assembly meeting.

The Congress-UDF members erected a human wall in front of the main gate to express their disagreement after sloganeering and banner protests inside the House and a brief sit-in in the Assembly hall entrance. UDF members took to sloganeering at the onset of the question hour and raised banners reading "The CM should end his silence". Speaker MB Rajesh issued a strict warning against the banners stating it was against assembly rules.

The Speaker further said the allegations against the CM has already been disposed on Thursday when opposition leader VD Satheeshan claimed that it was inappropriate to carry on with the proceedings without discussing the allegations against the CM. The opposition staged a walk-out when the Speaker went ahead with the question hour.

"Vijayan is reluctant to give a reply in the House as he is scared. He cannot simply lie in the House. As the people of the state, we are also waiting for him to end the silence and hear his reply on the issue," Satheeshan said. He added that the protest human wall was an "anti-corruption" wall. Regarding the unusual protest, he added that the opposition had convened a symbolic "House" as their notice seeking an adjournment motion over the issue.

The state assembly witnessed continuous protests by the opposition after recent reports that the Customs had issued a show-cause notice to the accused in the gold and dollar smuggling case indicating alleged involvement of Vijayan in smuggling dollars abroad. The Customs notice was reportedly issued based on the alleged statement of the prime accused in the gold and dollar smuggling cases, that Vijayan and former Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan were involved in smuggling foreign currency to the UAE through the officials of its Consulate here.