Congress leader BK Hariprasad, the opposition leader in Karnataka’s Legislative Council, sparked a controversy when he compared lawmakers who defected to the BJP to form a government in 2018 to “prostitutes”.
“Women who make a living from prostitution are called prostitutes. What would you call MLAs who sell themselves?” Hariprasad asked at the ‘Praja Dwani Yatre’ organized by KPCC at the Dr Puneeth Rajkumar Stadium here on Tuesday.
He said a coalition government had been formed when voters in the state gave a fragmented mandate in the last parliamentary vote. “However, some MLAs have sold themselves. What would you call them? We need to teach the local MLAs a lesson,” he said. Voters in the constituency should give a proper answer to the MLA in the upcoming parliamentary vote, the leader called in an allusion to Tourism Minister Anand Singh.
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“Sugar mills in the region have been closed. Who is responsible for this? Unemployment has increased as oil, textile and biscuit factories have closed. The credit for closing them goes to the BJP,” he added.
Later, talking to news organizations year Regarding the ongoing debate surrounding his statement, Hari Prasad accused the BJP of “distorting” his words and creating “unnecessary controversy about sex workers”.
“We have great respect for sex workers. I apologize if they have been harmed,” Hari Prasad further told the agency.
When asked for comment, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai slammed the Congress leader, telling year“Look, I can’t react to such a lowly statement, this is my reaction.”
