N Mahesh, Karnataka's lone MLA from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) found himself in a spot of bother on Monday, 17 December. He was caught on camera scrolling through a picture of a woman on his mobile phone during the winter Assembly session in Belagavi.
When he was confronted about it by reporters, he accused the media of sensationalising the issue.
Speaking to reporters, he said, "Yes, I took the phone inside. It was a mistake. I will never do it again. But what kind of journalism is this that you are sensationalising everything. I am searching for a girl for an alliance for my son. My friend sent me a photo of a girl. Please don't portray this in wrong light and play up the issue. This is very unfortunate. I am sorry to say this".
TV channels in the state and national news channel played videos of the MLA scrolling through photos of women on his phone. Mahesh was criticised for using his mobile phone during an Assembly session while some had reservations about his decision to scroll through pictures of women.
Mahesh vowed that he would not carry his phone into the Assembly session in the future.
The winter session of the Legislative Assembly has entered its second week. Mahesh was the lone minister from the BSP in the coalition government's cabinet until he resigned from his post on 11 October.
He was the Primary and Secondary Education Minister in the state and his resignation came soon after BSP leader Mayawati announced that the party would not be aligning with the Congress during the elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
In 2014, the use of mobile phones was banned by former Speaker Kagodu Thimappa after BJP MLA Prabhu Chavan was caught on camera zooming into photos of Priyanka Gandhi.
In the same period, Congress leaders Ambareesh, the actor-politician who passed away recently and SS Malikarjun were also reprimanded for using their mobile phones on the floor of House.
Previously, three BJP ministers— Laxman Savadi, CC Patil and J Krishna Palemar had resigned from their posts after they were caught watching porn in the state assembly in 2012.
(The story was published in an arrangement with The News Minute)
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