Remembering Moideen, Speaker turns emotional

Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar turned emotional while condoling the death of former minister B A Moideen, in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

“When Azeez Sait quit the Ramakrishna Hegde government, I was asked to reach out to Moideen to ensure there was minority representation in the Cabinet. I called up Mohideen from Abdul Nazeer Sab’s house. Back in those days, ministers had a lightning call facility. Moideen asked me why I was calling him from Nazeer Sab’s house and flatly refused the offer. How can you expect me to eat someone’s leftover food, he asked me. These days when people do whatever it takes to grab power, that was Mohideen who refused power when it came to him,” Kumar said.

“If there’s anybody in my life besides my brother who had the authority to advise and mould me, it was Moideen,” he said and took leave from the Assembly to pay Moideen a final visit.

‘Touts in Soudha’

JD(S) leader H Vishwanath said in the Legislative Assembly that touts and brokers ruled the roost in the corridors of Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha.

“A village accountant’s transfer order gets signed in Vidhana Soudha. Is this decentralisation of administration?” he said. “It’s not the common man, but those with files regarding transfers, grants and suspension that roam these corridors,” he said. He dared Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to close the gates of M S Building after 12 pm and take up an inspection. “He’ll know what goes on here. After 12 pm, M S Building becomes a shopping complex.”