Thiruvananthapuram: The ruling CPM in Kerala, which fears backlash over the flood calamity, made a successful bid to silence its own angry legislators at the special session of the Kerala legislative assembly which was called to debate on the unprecedented crisis.

During Thursday's session, when 40-odd MLAs spoke on the various ways the August deluge damaged the state, the ruling party ensured that the three legislators whose constituencies were among the worst hit in the calamity were muzzled as they had earlier criticised the government handling of the crisis. The party, the leading constituent of the the Left Democratic Front, denied Saji Cherian (Chengannur), Raju Abraham (Konni) and O R Kelu (Mananthavady) a chance to speak in the state assembly on Thursday.

Cherian, for instance, had lamented the delay in calling in the army to his constituency that had four of its villages completely submerged under water. Raju was critical of authorities not issuing warning before opening the dams in his constituency falling in river-lined Pathanamthitta district. Kelu aired similar views about the lifting of the shutters of the Banasura Sagar dam in his constituency in the hilly Wayanad district.

Such statements had earned them the displeasure of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He believes his own legislators have gifted the opposition a stick to beat the government with over 'poor counter' to the calamity.

Raju, eventually, did manage to mouth a few words on the floor, courtesy a chance triggered by the Congress-led Opposition. The 140-member assembly has 91 MLAs from the LDF, of whom 58 belong to the CPM that leads the ruling alliance.

Mannarkkad legislator N Shamsudheen of the Indian Union Muslim Leage (a constituent of the Congress-led UDF) said the opposition was now raising matters that some of the CPI(M) members had themselves aired during the time of the flood. At this juncture, Marxist legislator Raju raised a point of order and said he never criticised the state government on the matter. The media had conveniently extracted bits from his earlier statement, he alleged.

It is widely believed that the hasty release of water from several dams contributed to the calamitous floods, which wrecked havoc all across the state and particularly in central Kerala. Experts too concur that the government bungled in managing the dam capacity amid continuous, intense rains that stretched for several days.

MLAs rant during the floods

* Saji Cherian on August 17: The situation in Chengannur is critical. Several people have died. There is no way to lift the bodies. None to help. The army should be deployed at the earliest. Else, tens of thousands will die. I fall at your feet, please sanction at least one helicopter for us.

Raju Abraham, August 23: Prompt forewarning could have helped us avoid the catastrophe. Alert was issued twice a fortnight ago. But when it came to the day when warning really mattered, nothing came. It was a flaw, no doubt. The authorities didn’t have a roadmap for Idukki.

O R Kelu, August 10: No alert was issued prior to opening the reservoirs. As the MLA from a place most affected by the floods, even I wasn’t informed of the (local) dam being opened.

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