Karnataka Speaker Ramesh Kumar makes rape reference in assembly, MLAs laugh

Due to the audio tapes controversy, the ongoing Karnataka assembly budget session has been embroiled in political turmoil. On Tuesday, the house witnessed a new low when the Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar likened his situation to that of a woman who has been raped. Ramesh Kumar, while referring to the tapes, purportedly of BJP State President BS Yeddyurappa, trying to lure away a JD(S) MLA from the ruling coalition, said, “Rape happened only once, but making reference to her multiple times, made the victim feel like she was being raped again and again. This is how I feel now.”

What came as a shocker is that the Karnataka assembly session which had 5 women legislators including Anita, the wife of Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy in attendance, did not object to the comments and instead laughed along with the speaker. According to the New Indian Express report, the BJP Leader KS Eshwarappa even quipped, “Since the CM released the tapes, he must know how many times you were raped.”

He was referring to the multiple times that his name has been mentioned over the past two days and many leaders had pointed out that his name was dragged into the controversy and doubts had been raised that the chair had been compromised. Most members chose to laugh and the house was in splits at the comments.