Anvar skips House session as Speaker's allotted seat with opposition

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 8 (PTI) Dissident MLA P V Anvar, with whom the ruling CPI(M) has severed all ties following his allegations against the LDF government and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, on Tuesday said he was not attending the assembly session as the Speaker allocated him a seat amongst the opposition.

Anvar said that Speaker A N Shamseer allocated him a seat with the opposition after the CPI(M) informed the assembly that he was no longer part of their parliamentary party.

"I have no intention of sitting with the opposition. That is why I did not attend the House today. I have given a letter to the Speaker requesting that I be allocated a separate block or seat as an independent away from the opposition," he told reporters here.

He said that he will wait for a response from the Speaker till Wednesday.

"If I do not get a response by tomorrow (October 9), I will attend the assembly session, but I will not sit with the opposition. I will sit on the floor of the House. The floor is not a bad place," he said.

Anvar, in an apparent reference to the heated exchanges witnessed a day ago in the House, said that only fights are going on in the assembly and not discussions.

He was responding to reporters' queries as to whether he was missing out on important discussions in the House by not attending it.

The Kerala Assembly was adjourned for the day on Monday after a protest on the floor of the House following an intense verbal spat between Vijayan and Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan who traded charges.

Anvar's accusations against the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) and senior police official M R Ajithkumar on various matters led to the ruling CPI(M) severing its ties with him.

He has alleged that the Left party in Kerala is heading towards a worse condition than that of West Bengal. PTI