'Sheer waste of public money': V Muraleedharan on Kerala Assembly Session on Dec 31 on farm laws

New Delhi [India], December 28 (ANI): Union Minister V Muraleedharan on Monday termed as a "futile exercise" and "sheer waste of public money" the convening of Kerala assembly for a one-day special session on December 31 to discuss and pass a resolution against the three central farm laws.
Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Monday gave his assent to convene a special session of the state Legislative Assembly on December 31 to discuss and pass a resolution against the new agricultural laws against which farmers are agitating at the Delhi borders.
"I have earlier also told that this is a futile exercise and just a sheer waste of public money. Kerala assembly, unfortunately, has in the past also done such things like passing a resolution for the release of Abdul Nasir Madni (PDP leader) when the judicial process was on. The Assembly also passed a resolution on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). So what happens to the sanctity and the special power of the Legislature?," Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs Muraleedharan said while speaking with ANI.
"So, unfortunately, the speaker the chief minister and the opposition leader do not see the issues in its right perspective. They want to score some brownie points political points so this is another such effort. This is just a political gimmick," he added.
When asked about why Governor Khan gave the nod for the session, days after the Kerala government sent a fresh proposal to convene the assembly after he had turned down an earlier recommendation, Muraleedharan said, "The Governor had pointed out that the earlier the request was not in the proper format. The request was not according to the law established. The Government might have changed the request and then given it again."
"I am not the person who can reply on behalf of the Governor on why he did not give permission earlier. As I understand his version that has been reported in the media is that it was not in the format the request had to be sent so it was turned down now they might have changed that format," he added.
The first recommendation by the Kerala Cabinet for a special assembly was made on December 23, which was not cleared by the Governor. After this, the Cabinet came up with fresh recommendation, which has now been cleared by the Governor. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said that the Cabinet has decided to recommend to the Governor to call for the 21st session of the 14th state Legislative Assembly on December 31 as the problems faced by the agriculture sector and farmers continues.
Meanwhile, to resolve the impasse, the central government has called farmers for a meeting on December 30 at 2 pm at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi.
Farmers have continued their protest at the borders of Delhi against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. (ANI)