A no-confidence motion against the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala was defeated by 87 against 40 votes, but the chief minister’s reply suggested that he may have lost much of his own confidence.
His marathon speech, which ran for a record three hours and 45 minutes, was seen as the most insipid address in reply to a non-confidence motion in the state assembly so far.
He skirted all the allegations levelled by Opposition leaders and made his reply sound like a budget speech, talking about all the schemes of his government. He claimed that only 30 of the 600 promises in the Left Democratic Front manifesto remain to be implemented.
Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has accused the CM of running away from the charges levelled by the opposition benches.
Earlier, Chennithala said, "When I raised issues in which M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to CM, was involved in the gold smuggling case, Pinarayi Vijayan said I was raising baseless allegation against an honest official. Pinarayi Vijayan should make clear is he still holds the same opinion. All issues I raised against the government have proved right."
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