Rahul Gandhi reaches Rajasthan, to address Congress workers in Mount Abu
Rahul Gandhi flew down to Udaipur from Delhi and was received by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and other senior Congress leaders.
The Congress has intensified its protests across Kerala on Tuesday against the imposition of fuel cess in the state budget for 2023-24.
Congress workers marched to the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram and the Collectorates of all the districts demanding rollback of the proposal to impose social security cess on the sale of petrol and diesel.
Protesters allegedly pelted stones at the police in many places. In Kottayam, the Congress workers pelted stones at a police vehicle. Nattakom Suresh, Kottayam DCC president, was injured in a scuffle. He alleged that the police pelted stones at him.
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The police arrested Thrissur DCC president Jose Valloor for violent incidents.
In this connection, the indefinite ‘satyagraha’ by four UDF MLAs in front of the Assembly complex, in protest against what has been termed the “worst ever budget in Kerala history, entered the second day on Tuesday.
Three Congress MLAs -Mathew Kuzhalnadan, Shafi Parambil and C R Mahesh and Indian Union Muslim legislator Najeeb Kanthapuram launched an indefinite ‘satyagraha’ infront of the Assembly complex on Monday against the “anti-people budget” of the LDF government.
Meanwhile, the Congress-led Opposition UDF staged walkout in the Assembly protesting against the hike in the basic price of piped drinking water.
Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan said the government had pushed families staring into the abyss of debt further to the brink of financial ruin.
In this connection, the Opposition won a favourable ruling from Speaker AN Shamsheer when questioning the propriety of the government increasing the water charge without informing the House. Speaker Shamsheer ruled that the convention demanded the government ideally announce such decisions impacting the public in the House when the House is in session.
In his ruling, the Speaker clarified that when the government takes a final decision on policy matters, the precedent is to announce it first in the Assembly itself, if it is during the session. There are prior rulings for it, he added.
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