Lawmakers from the Left raised slogans holding banners and placards.
Lawmakers of the Left Democratic Front in Kerala today staged a walkout from the Assembly on the day state budget was presented, saying key points from the budget had been leaked before its announcement injuring its "sanctity".
"We received the leaked document as early as 8:30 in the morning and informed the legislative offices. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had anyway lost his moral ground to present the budget in the House because of the allegations against him. After the leak, it's another defeat for the chief minister," Communist Party of India-Marxist lawmaker MA Baby said.
Mr Chandy today presented the 2016-17 budget, becoming the first chief minister in 29 years to present it. Mr Chandy had taken over the Finance portfolio after former Finance Minister and Kerala Congress (M) leader K M Mani quit in November 2015 over corruption allegations.
Holding banners and placards, LDF members raised slogans for a while. As an unfazed Chief Minister continued with the budget presentation, the LDF members marched out of the House and boycotted the budget presentation.
With an eye on state elections expected in April, LDF lawmakers had earlier decided they would not create unruly scenes inside the Assembly despite their anti-government protest since the beginning of the Assembly Session.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front government has been facing the heat over a string of alleged corruption scandals, where ministers including Chief Minister and his office have come under the scanner.
But just hours after LDF's offensive, the Left also came under attack as Communist Party of India's Kannur District Secretary P Jayarajan was denied bail and remanded to judicial custody for a month in a murder case.
Mr Jayarajan had surrendered before the court today and is an accused in a case of murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) member in 2014.