BENGALURU: The Congress is moving a privilege motion against Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar for his remarks against Congress MLA and former speaker Ramesh Kumar. The two got into an argument when Dr Sudhakar made a reference to Ramesh Kumar for disqualifying 17 MLAs, including Sudhakar, when he was the Speaker during the previous Congress-JDS coalition government.
During a discussion on anti-CAA protests on Tuesday, Sudhakar said, “Under the Constitution, Speaker’s chair is like a judicial body. Because of this chair, injustice was meted out to us. The Supreme Court said that the Speaker only has the right to check if the resignations given by members were voluntary or not. Our political careers almost ended because of the then Speaker’s decision. It was not about me, but also 17 other MLAs. It was a political game.”
When Ramesh pointed out that Sudhakar jumped from one party to another, the minister said, “You don’t have any right to say this. You were with Janata Dal and later joined Congress. You cannot point an accusing finger at us.”
Congress members objected and said, “You joined the other party (BJP) for power. You are the one who jumped from one party to another. The Supreme Court said that the MLAs were disqualified. Ramesh Kumar too raised objection. What is the need to raise court judgements on the floor of the House?”
The commotion led to adjournment of the House.