Two former parliamentarians and current members of the Legislative Council – Ayanur Manjunath of BJP and B.K. Hariprasad of Congress – engaged in a heated verbal duel on Tuesday.
It all started when Deputy Chairman M.K. Pranesh asked Mr. Hariprasad to restrict himself to posing questions, which the senior Congress member took objection to. Mr. Hariprasad asked the Chair not to repeatedly intervene while he was speaking.
Mr. Pranesh reminded the members about the proceedings of Business Advisory Committee, and said that Question Hour is only meant for asking supplementary questions and providing suggestions. “If you want a debate, we can convert it into a half-an-hour discussion,” he said. House Leader Kota Srinivas Poojary who intervened at that time, took objection to the tone used by Mr. Hariprasad while he addressed the Chair.
While the issue was dying down, Mr. Manjunath intervened and said: “We cannot raise voice against the Chair.” This was opposed by Mr. Hariprasad and other Congress members. The Deputy Chairman was also accused of being “partisan” for allowing Mr. Manjunath to revisit the issue and speak against Mr. Hariprasad.
The Deputy Chairman appealed to both members to have restraint. “Both of you have been parliamentarians and you are to be role models.” When Leader of the Opposition S.R. Patil urged the Chair to expunge the remarks of both, Congress and BJP members flared up again. Eventually, Mr. Pranesh directed for removal of words from the record that were not reasonable.
