Cane basket, garland of cards to grab attention

Prabhu Chavan, the BJP MLA from Aurad who was found watching a picture of Priyanka Gandhi on a smartphnoe in the Assembly, had come up with an idea to grab eyeballs in the House just hours earlier.

He had carried a cane basket which had ration cards. He had worn a garland of cards around his neck. However, before the session began, the watch and ward staff took away the basket. But the garland remained.

Once the session began, when the MLA stood up to make his point on how pruning of the ration card beneficiaries has caused inconvenience to the poor, Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa directed him to remove the cards hung around his neck.

“You are a member of this House. Remove what you are wearing,” he told him. Chavan later complied. The MLA, who sought permission to speak in Hindi, said that in his constituency ration cards of 20,000 poor had been scrapped.

“The government say send sms, give thumb impression but finally the card is taken away. What is the point of offering subsidised rice to the poor,” he asked.

Some of his party colleagues too endorsed his view. Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said that hardly five lakh cards had been weeded out. He also told the Chair to allow a detailed debate on the issue so he can explain the action taken by the government.