Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar and senior Congress leader K.R. Ramesh Kumar indulged in a verbal duel on Wednesday in the Assembly over purchase of equipment for COVID-19 management.
It all began with Mr. Kumar losing his cool when Dr. Sudhakar defended purchase at higher prices and using an abusive word in Kannada in the process. This angered the Minister who said he too was capable of raining such words on Mr. Kumar.
Senior Minister K.S. Eshwarappa intervened and urged Mr. Kumar to tender an apology. Mr. Kumar, however, said he would do so if Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri ruled that the word used by him was unparliamentary.
The Speaker went through files to know if the word was indeed unparliamentary. Since the exact word was not on the list of unparliamentary expressions, the Speaker ruled that the word used by Mr. Kumar was unparliamentary and expunged it.
