'Priyanka' Kharge rues name mix-up and missed 'ayes' earn Speaker's ire: A day in Karnataka Assembly

Belagavi: Clearly, Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge is no fan of Shakespeare’s famous adage, “What’s in a name?”

During Question Hour on Wednesday, Priyank addressed Chikmagalur MLA H D Thammaiah as ‘Thimmaiah’. The MLA corrected the minister, “Because of this, everyone calls me Thimmaiah.”

An apologetic Priyank said, “Nobody better than me understands what it means to get a name wrong. With people calling me Priyanka, my gender gets changed.”

Malfunction

Later, Speaker UT Khader was forced to adjourn the Assembly for 10 minutes following an unprecedented malfunction in the sound system.

Microphones and speakers malfunctioned when Bills were being introduced. The mics went off soon after Khader chided Congress MLAs for not saying ‘aye’ during the tabling of Bills. This prompted Opposition BJP lawmakers to quip that Khader was ‘silenced’ for pulling up Congress members.

Black band protest

Meanwhile, Deputy Leader of the Opposition Arvind Bellad came to the Assembly wearing a black band on his left arm. Speaker Khader noticed this and asked Bellad about it.

“It’s a black day. It was a year ago that Lingayats were ill-treated,” he said, referring to the lathicharging of Panchamasali-Lingayats during their agitation seeking Category-2A reservation when the Belagavi session was on last year.

Bellad demanded to know what action the government had taken. Law Minister HK Patil read the rulebook and said such symbols were not allowed in the House. Bellad later removed the band.