A day after Health and Family Welfare Minister K. Sudhakar challenged all MLAs to take “monogamy test”, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah said if BJP MLAs are ready to accept the Minister’s statement, the Karnataka government should take legal action against them as per the provisions of IPC sections 494 and 495 and the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, which have declared polygamy as illegal.
On Thursday, Mr. Siddaramaiah tweeted: “@mla_Sudhakar had told that none of the 225 MLAs follow monogamy. As this statement applies to @BJP4Karnataka MLAs also, they should clarify about their marital status to the people of Karnataka”.
If the BJP MLAs declined to endorse the Minister’s statement, then they should urge Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to order a probe against all the MLAs, Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
“If @BJP4Karnataka MLAs are not ready to accept @mla_sudhakar’s statement, will they write a letter to @CMofKarnataka without any compulsion, requesting to initiate an enquiry against all the MLAs. @INCkarnataka has already written a similar letter to @CMOofKarnataka,” he tweeted.
Dr. Sudhakar’s statement, calling for an investigation into the personal life of all the 225 MLAs of the State to find out how many of them have had extramarital affairs, created a flutter in the political circles on Wednesday.
As his statement drew widespread flak across the partylines, including the BJP, Dr. Sudhakar later said in a statement, “I have huge respect for the august House and legislators and I will never do anything that will disrespect the House.”
