Kerala Assembly golden jubilee fete begins

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 27 (UNI) A year-long celebration marking the golden jubilee of the Kerala Legislative Assembly began today by honouring the surviving members of the First Assembly and the former Speakers.

Inaugurating the celebrations, Governor R L Bhatia said the Kerala Legislative Assembly had passed several landmark legislations for the development of the state and welfare of the people.

Presiding over the function, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said the Assembly had been instrumental in the passing of several progressive legislations bringing far-reaching socio-economic changes .

Nagaland Governor K Sankaranarayanan, Overseas Indians Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs M Vijayakumar, Former Chief Minister K Karunakaran, Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy, Former Ministers T M Jacob, R Balakrishna Pillai, M V Raghavan, P J Joseph, K Pankajakshan, M P Veerendrakumar, K M Mani and K R Gouri, CPI State Secretary and member of the first Assembly Veliyam Bhargavan and Legislators P M A Salam, P C George and Ramachandran Kadannappally offered felicitations.

Former Speakers T S John, A C Jose, V M Sudheeran, Varkala Radhakrishnan, P P Thankachan, Therambil Ramakrishnan and M Vijayakumar were hounoured at the function and were presented with mementoes.

Twelve surviving members of the first Assembly were also honoured at the function.Speaker K Radhakrishnan welcomed the gathering.

An all-India conference of Assembly Speakers, seminars and exhibitions have also been planned as part of the celebrations.

UNI