Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 12 (IANS): A Kerala Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday decided to hold a one-day sitting of the state Assembly on August 24.

The session was earlier slated to be convened on July 27 but was called off for more reasons than one.

At that time, a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases in the state capital was cited as the reason, though the Congress-led opposition had claimed that it was done as Vijayan was running away in the wake of the controversy over the gold smuggling case.

The opposition had also given a notice for moving a no-confidence motion as well as a motion to remove Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan.

The Vijayan government had called the special one-day session to get passed the Finance Bill, as rules mandated its passage latest by July 29.

After the planned one-day session was shelved, the Cabinet decided to issue an ordinance to pass the Bill.

On August 24, the Finance Bill will come up for discussion in the Assembly.

Polling will also be held for the Rajya Sabha seat that fell vacant following the death of media baron and veteran MP Veerendra Kumar, who headed the Loktantrik Janata Dal, presently an ally of the Left government.

While Kumar's son MV Shreyams Kumar has been cleared to contest the seat, the Congress-led opposition has, for all practical purposes, zeroed down on Lal Varghese Kalpakavady, head of farmers wing of the Congress. However, there has been no official announcement as yet on his candidature.