Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 14 (IANS): Four bills were passed without any discussion Thursday as the Kerala assembly was disrupted for the third consecutive day by opposition legislators demanding immediate arrest of Indian Union Muslim League's (IUML) lawmaker P.K. Basheer, who has been named in a twin murder case.
Trouble began as soon as the house met at 8.30 a.m. with members of the Left parties shouting slogans, prompting Speaker G. Karthikeyan to suspend the question hour.
He returned to the chair an hour later and said that talks with opposition leaders had yielded no solution and, with four important bills to be passed, he had no option but to go ahead with the listed business of the day.
In a flash, four bills were passed. Before adjourning the house for the day, a visibly upset Karthikeyan said: "It's some sort of a record for the assembly that four bills have been passed without any discussion; this does not augur well for the house."
Basheer, who was present in the house, has been named in the killing of brothers Azad and Abubacker in Malappuram district Sunday night. The brothers' family members allege that Basheer was part of a conspiracy behind their murders.
Basheer had in a speech earlier this month said that the IUML would hit back at those who had killed A. Rehman, an IUML activist, after a clash at a football tournament in Malappuram in January.