The Kerala government has decided to convene a special session of the state Assembly on December 23 to pass a resolution against the farm laws.

Two weeks after it took a call not to implement the controversial laws that have led to nationwide protests, the state government held a cabinet meeting on Monday to decide on the special session to formally register its opposition to the three farm laws.

A source at the chief minister’s office said the cabinet has recommended state governor Arif Mohammed Khan to convene the one-hour session on Wednesday morning. While chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan would move the resolution, leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress and heads of all parties would be allowed to speak on the motion before passing it.

The government had earlier decided to challenge the contentious laws in the Supreme Court.

State agriculture minister V.S. Sunil Kumar told The Telegraph that the government would send a strong message against the NDA government for steadily usurping the rights of the state governments.

“Since agriculture is in the concurrent list, the Centre should have consulted the states. Instead, they went ahead and hurriedly passed the farm laws that are detrimental to the interests of the farmers across the country,” Kumar said.

“Such tendencies are against the spirit of federalism enshrined in the Constitution and would eventually leave the states at the mercy of the Centre,” the minister said.

He said the state government would soon approach the apex court against the farm laws.

He said Vijayan would move the motion in the hour-long special session where leaders of all political parties would get to air their opinions.

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government was among the first to come out in support of the agitating farmers, thousands of whom have assembled in Delhi with the demand of repealing the laws that allegedly favour corporate companies.

On November 1, Kerala became the first state to fix minimum support prices for vegetables.

Left leaders have been actively participating in the agitation against the farm laws. Acting secretary of Kerala CPM A. Vijayaraghavan on Monday took part in the protests in Ghazipur in the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border and assured all support from his party.