Karnataka Assembly condoles long list of leaders, personalities

The Karnataka Legislative Assembly condoled the demise of a long list of former ministers and eminent personalities on Monday, several of whom perished during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Victims of the pandemic in the months of April and May this year, and those who lost their lives during the floods, were also condoled.

As many as 31 prominent personalities were remembered on the first day of the Assembly session. Assembly Speaker Visweshwar Hegde Kageri said this was perhaps the longest list of people ever condoled in the House.

Those remembered during the session include Hangal MLA C M Udasi, former Speaker Krishna, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, former Union Minister Babagouda Patil, former ministers G Madegowda, K B Shanappa and Prof Mumtaz Ali Khan, freedom fighter H S Doreswamy, Dalit poet Siddalingaiah, environmental activist Sundarlal Bahuguna, renowned athlete Milkha Singh, actor Jayanthi among others.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai recalled his association with Udasi, a polyglot. "He was my guide and mentor after my father passed away," Bommai said.

Law Minister J C Madhuswamy rued that MLAs should have condoled the death of all the 31 personalities individually. "But, the numbers are too large for that," he said.

Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah, in his address, said that it was unfortunate that many people died during the second wave of the pandemic for want of oxygen, ventilator, ICU beds, medicine and other medical facilities. "The number of victims is 10 times the number claimed by the government," he said.

Recalling his interactions with actor Jayanthi, Siddaramaiah said she had contested from the Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency. "She used to fondly call me, 'What hero?' when we met. In response I used to always call her 'evergreen heroine'," he said.

Talking about his association with Udasi, Madhuswamy said that the former had a cheerful outlook about life. "As he grew past 80, he joked about his age by reading the digits of his age in reverse. When he was 82, he said he was 28 years old and when he was 83, he said he was 38," Madhuswamy said.

Udasi had an interesting outlook on life, the minister said, recalling a quote Udasi once said on how he managed to look smart even in old age. "Joothe jab purane hothe hai, polish ki zaroorat zyada padthi hai," Madhuswamy quoted Udasi, meaning an old shoe required more polish.

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