Both Houses of the legislature on Monday paid tribute to 14 prominent personalities who died this year, including former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, actor-turned-politician Ambareesh, and Union Minister Ananth Kumar.
Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy praised Vajpayee as an “ ajata shatru ” and Ambareesh as an actor whose contribution to the Kannada film industry stood next only to icons such as Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan. Leader of the Opposition B.S. Yeddyurappa, paying homage to Ananth Kumar, recalled how he had convinced the late BJP leader to pursue politics.
Tributes were also paid to former Union Minister Jaffer Sharief, former Ministers Thippeswamy, E.T. Shambunath, Omprakash Kanagali, Vimalabai Deshmukh, and former legislators Mallappa Veerappa Shetty, Vishwanath Karibasappa Mamani, M.P. Ravindra, Babureddy Venkatappa, H.S. Prakash, and M. Bhaktavatsala.
Both Houses were adjourned for the day soon after, even though the norm is to adjourn after obituary reference only if a sitting member of the House dies. However, the Houses chose to adjourn as a mark of respect for Vajpayee.
Referring to this, Speaker Ramesh Kumar said originally the House had decided to conduct other business after the obituary reference. However, the Opposition BJP requested him to adjourn the House. In the Legislative Council, Leader of the Opposition Kota Srinivas Poojari appealed on this.
