Karnataka: Speaker expunges "unparliamentary" word used by senior Cong MLA in assembly
Bengaluru: Karnataka assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri on Wednesday expunged a word used by senior Congress legislator K R Ramesh Kumar, terming it as "unparliamentary", as it created an uproar in the house, with ruling BJP taking a strong exception to it.
After the Speaker's ruling, the MLA said he would abide by the decision of the chair.
It all began when Kumar intervened during Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar's reply to the discussion on government's 'failure' in handling the COVID-19 situation and 'misappropriation' in the procurement of medical equipment and charged him with trying to justify and deny the purchase at a higher price.
While doing so, Kumar, who was also a former Speaker, used a word that irked Sudhakar and BJP members.
Sudhakar asked Kumar to speak properly and mind his language, leading to an argument between the two.
"Does he (Kumar) have any morality... we cannot accept this,", he said.
Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said he did not expect such language from a senior member like Ramesh Kumar.
Chaos prevailed for some time as a few Congress MLAs stood up in support of Kumar, leading to arguments.
Addressing the chair, Kumar said he was ready to seek an apology if the word he used was unparliamentary and sought directions from the chair.
"I did not have a better word to use in this context," he said.".
Sudhakar took exception to Kumar trying to justify his language instead of expressing regret and said this was the second time he was doing it and sought protection from the Chair.
During the assembly session in March too, both leaders had a face-off, as Kumar had used an expletive against Sudhakar, creating an uproar in the house.
Minister Eshwarappa demanded that Kumar immediately apologize and take back his word.
"You (Kumar) are trying to defend the usage of the word. Will you accept if the word is used against you? Such words are used by goondas, so apologize and withdraw it," he said.
Kumar, however, stuck to his stand and said the Speaker has the discretion to decide whether any word used by a member is parliamentary or parliamentary.
The Speaker can use his powers after going through the list of unparliamentary words, he said.
Kageri said the word used by Ramesh Kumar was "not courteous language", but that he would have to examine whether it was unparliamentary and added that he has already given instructions to officials in this regard.
Kumar said it was not a prestige issue for him and he was not justifying the word he used, nor adamant that it has to remain on record.
"OK, I agree it's a mistake by me, but what is your answer to misappropriation in procurement?" he asked.
The Speaker while giving his ruling said he was not able to find out at a glance, the word used by Kumar, in the list of unparliamentary words, but there is a precedence of similar words being expunged by the Chair in the past.
"...so I'm now including the word used (by Ramesh Kumar) in the list of unparliamentary words and expunging it from the record," he ruled.
Kumar said he would abide by the ruling of the chair and apologized for the word he used.
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Narine stars as KKR beat LSG by 98 runs, go to top of table
Lucknow, May 5: Sunil Narine's sparkling fifty and a collective effort by the bowlers fashioned Kolkata Knight Riders' 98-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL here on Sunday.
Deciding to bowl first didn't go as per plan for LSG as KKR became the first team to cross the 200-run mark at the Ekana stadium.
Proving his worth with the willow once again, Narine (81 off 38 balls) went on a six-hitting spree, blasting seven maximums and six fours to take the visitors to 235/6.
Chasing an imposing total, LSG batters had to go from the word go but the hosts found it hard to get the big shots and were eventually bundled out for 137 in 16.1 overs.
Within the first 10 overs, LSG had lost half the side including skipper KL Rahul (25), Arshin Kulkarni (9), Deepak Hooda (5) and big hitters Marcus Stoinis (36) and Nicholas Pooran (10).
Ashton Turner hit some lusty blows and looked in mood to showcase his batting prowess but the Australian was supremely unlucky as an inside edge deflected off his boot with Varun Chakravarthy completing a caught and bowled.
With the win KKR moved to the top of the table. They have 16 points, the same as Rajasthan Royals but have played one game more.
LSG, on the other hand, dropped out of the top four to the fifth spot with 12 points from 11 games. Their Net Run Rate also took a massive hit going down from 0.094 to -0.371.
Earlier, the in-form Narine, who was dropped twice in the space of two balls, smoked five boundaries in five balls, setting the tone for the KKR innings.
First, he hammered back-to-back fours off Naveen-ul-Haq in the last two balls of the third over. He then attacked the offside, hitting three boundaries on the trot off Mohsin Khan in the fourth over.
Narine and Phil Salt (32) gave the two-time champions the explosive start they have come to expect from the duo. Together they put up a quick 61-run stand before Naveen-ul Haq took the pace off the ball to send the Englishman packing.
Medium pacer Yash Thakur then stemmed the flow of runs in the final over of the powerplay, giving away only two runs as KKR reached 70/1.
However, the unperturbed Narine continued his onslaught and brought up his fifty off 27 deliveries with a cheeky late dab that sent the ball rolling past short third.
He took a particular liking to Marcus Stoinis, sending the ball over the fence three times in the 11th over.
But Ravi Bishnoi, on whose bowling Narine was dropped twice before, was third time lucky as he put an end to the all-rounder's spectacular innings.
The LSG bowlers were able to rein in the KKR batters as they kept taking wickets.
Naveen-ul Haq got rid of Andre Russell (12) before Yudhvir Singh, who came as a concussion sub for Mohsin Khan, picked up young Angkrish Raghuvanshi's (32) wicket in the next over.
The Afghan pacer swung back into action to account for the big-hitting Rinku Singh (16) while Thakur removed Shreyas Iyer (23).
But Ramandeep Singh's unbeaten 25 off 6 balls took KKR past the 230-run mark.
