The Governor’s remark that the situation was bad enough to warrant a report to the President under Article 356 of the Constitution of India constitutes a stern warning to the Government. The implicit message is: unless speedy steps are taken to avert a constitutional and financial breakdown by March 31, then the State could be heading for President’s Rule.

A worried Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has held hurried consultations with his ministerial colleagues and met the Governor to assure him that all steps to avert a fiscal breakdown would be in place before March 31.The Governor had stressed the need for passing the Appropriation Bill for supplementary demands for grants and vote on account by the Assembly on or before March 31.

Opposition LDF has been quick to pounce on the Governor’s stance and put the Government on the mat. Significantly, both the LDF and the BJP have sought the Governor’s intervention to declare the presentation of the Budget invalid.

The LDF has contended that all the normal procedures to be followed for presenting the budget had been violated. The MLAs should have occupied their seats while the budget is presented. On Friday, not a single member was seen in their seats. Besides, the Chief Marshall has to announce the arrival of the Speaker, who has to call the House to order. Then he has to invite the Finance Minister to present the budget. None of this happened on Friday. The Speaker’s claim that he had asked, by sign, the FM to present the budget was not in accordance with the accepted procedures, the LDF leaders contended. Therefore, the budget was not valid, and it has to be presented again, not by the Finance Minister, Mr, K. M. Mani, but by someone else. That is the crux of the LDF argument.

That there will be no early let-up in the eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation between the UDF and the LDF is clear from the stand of the later to boycott the budget session set to begin from Monday. Moreover, the LDF has also decided to intensify the agitation against the Finance Minister till he resigns. All his official functions will also be boycotted, the LDF said in an act clearly upping the ante.

Opinion is sharply divided on who is to be blamed for the crisis. The Opposition says the Chief Minister and the Finance Minister are solely responsible for the unprecedented scenes in the assembly. What precipitated matters and caused the violence inside the assembly was the Government’s contemptuous disregard for democratic niceties and accepted norms of public behaviour. The LDF leaders are firm that ‘a man who should have been sent to jail for indulging

There is substance in the argument. The ruling party’s show of scant regard for probity and honesty in public life and indulgence in corruption was the main reason for the tense faceoff in the state.

Having said that, it must also be stated that the LDF lost some of the moral high ground it occupied until Friday by indulging violence inside the House. By resorting to violence, the LDF also lost the political initiative to the UDF which is now using it to settle scores against their political rivals. LDF leaders should have exercised greater control on the MLAs and prevented the MLAs from unruly behavior. That they failed to do so speaks poorly of their leadership qualities.

But the Speaker’s move to take action against the LDF MLAs who indulged in unruly behavior will only aggravate tension. The Speaker and the ruling UDF are obviously using the Governor’s remark that action should be taken against those responsible for unruly behavior. The LDF, on the other hand, wants action to be taken against some of the UDF MLAs who indulged in improper behavior towards the Front’s women MLAs. If the Speaker takes action against only the Opposition MLAs, the faceoff would only worsen.

Whatever the denouement, one thins is for sure. Friday, March 13, 2015 will go down in Kerala’s political history as a black day. The politicians may have won the day by trying to settle scores against each other, but it is the people of the state who have lost. Politicians on both sides of the political divide have diminished themselves in the process. Is it too much to expect them to make adequate amends and begin a new chapter by learning appropriate lessons from the sordid episode?

Failure to do so could see the State drift into President’s rule for a while. Both the UDF and LDF would do well to remember that it is a BJP Government which is in power at the Centre. The rival fronts have been forewarned. It is up to them to act with restraint and maturity. The coming days will be crucial for both. (IPA Service)