Danam creates furore with his ‘obscene’ speech

Hyderabad: The state Assembly on Friday witnessed ruckus following derogatory remarks made by Danam Nagender against opposition BRS members during the course of a short discussion on development of Hyderabad.

The House was discussing ‘Activities for sustainable Urban Development in Hyderabad Metro City’. Danam Nagender, who had migrated from BRS to Congress, was speaking. At this point some BRS members got up and demanded that they be given time to speak on the proposed new law in place of Dharani. Nagender asked the BRS members, including P Kaushik Reddy and others to stop their protest. He used certain derogatory words like “Em anukuntunnaru ra meeru, okakoniki, cheputunna, em arey baita kuda tiruganiyan cheputunna nenu.” He also used some cuss words and later tried to justify that they were part of the Telangana lingo. The opposition members are angry that the Speaker, who should have stopped him and pulled him up for his behavior which goes against the decorum of the House, was just gesturing with hand asking him to cool down.

The ruling party members instead of taking corrective measures or expressing regret for their member using such words said that opposition members should not target the member who was speaking and disturb him. Minister Ponnam Nagender quoting a rule said while the members were speaking, others should not make gestures or threaten fellow members.

Speaker G Prasad said that he would look into records and make a decision. The Speaker said that the member was speaking with the permission of the chair. “I told the members to sit in their chairs, but they did not listen and are frequently coming into the podium which is not a good practice,” he said.

MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi sought apology from Nagender stating that the member had used highly unparliamentary words. "He (Nagender) used words about mothers, which is not right. He also said, “come out I will see you,” it is on record. It is not good for this House. We have to maintain decency in the House,” said Akbar. Later, Nagender expressed regret for his comments, but repeated the word, “Niyamma,” and said it was not unparliamentary as it was a common word in Hyderabad. The opposition criticised him for this explanation.