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Assemblies have own privileges: Kerala CM
Hours after the assembly had passed the resolution on Tuesday demanding the scrapping of the CAA, Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had hit out at the state government and said Vijayan should seek “better legal advise”.
A day after the Kerala assembly passed a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday rejected Bharatiya Janata Party’s criticism against it, saying the state assemblies have their own privileges.
Hours after the assembly had passed the resolution on Tuesday demanding the scrapping of the CAA, Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had hit out at the state government and said Vijayan should seek “better legal advise”.
Prasad had said it is only “Parliament which has got the powers to pass any law with regard to citizenship; not any assembly, including the Kerala Assembly”.
BJP’s Rajya Sabha member, G V L Narasimha Rao, also wrote to the House chairman Venkaiah Naidu to initiate breach of parliamentary privileges and contempt proceedings against the Kerala CM over the resolution.
“State Assemblies have its own privileges. Such actions are unheard of anywhere. But we cannot rule out anything in the present circumstance as unprecedented things are happening now-a-days in the country,” Vijayan told reporters here when asked about the breach of privilege proceedings.
The Assemblies have their own special protection and it should not be violated, he said.
Kerala is the first state to pass a resolution against a law which has been violating the fundamental principles of the Constitution and it has great significance, the chief minister said.
On a question regarding state Governor Arif Mohammed Khan supporting the CAA, the CM said he is entitled to have his opinion. So, his views can be seen in that way only, he said.
The Kerala Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution demanding scrapping of the CAA, becoming the first state in the country to do so.
