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The Opposition has even threatened that Mani would not be allowed to attend the Assembly to present the budget.
The Kerala assembly is set to witness dramatic and tense moments on Friday as CPI (M)-led Opposition has decided to prevent Finance Minister K M Mani from presenting the budget as he is facing bar bribery and other corruption charges.
As the activists of the LDF and Bharatiya Yuva Morcha have vowed not to let Mani present the budget, the Finance Minister has decided to stay at the assembly complex on Thursday night. The situation is snowballing into a show of strength, with other ministers, and legislators in both ruling and the opposition benches deciding to stay at the assembly.
The Opposition legislators have been camping at the assembly since noon as part of their agitation against Mani and other ministers in the bar bribery scandal. As Opposition members stayed back at the assembly, the ruling front asked its legislators to return to the assembly tonight itself.
As a build up to the agitation, hundreds of LDF and Yuva Morcha workers have already laid a siege to the assembly complex in the state capital, where around 2,000 policemen have been deployed to tackle the situation.
The LDF and the Yuva Morcha have threatened to block all roads and entrances leading to the state assembly complex in a bid to prevent the entry of Mani to the Assembly.
LDF convener Vaikkom Vishwan said at no cost Mani would be allowed to present the budget. “We have planned to block Mani. But, he has decided to stay at the assembly complex. However, our legislators would not allow him to present the budget on Friday,” said Vishwan.
Earlier in the day, Mani had announced that he would stay in his official residence as usual and come to the assembly to present the budget. However, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala apprised Mani about the volatile situation. They advised him to stay back at the Assembly complex tonight.
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