K’taka Speaker compares himself to ‘rape survivor’

Karnataka assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar Tuesday compared himself to a rape survivor having to undergo repeated questioning as he referred to repeated charges against him being part of the controversial audio tapes, over which government has constituted an SIT.

The speaker made the intervention during the discussions in the assembly over the Special Investigation Team probe into an audio clip showing BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa in a purported conversation to lure a JD(S) MLA in his alleged attempt to topple the Congress-JDS government.

The Speaker, pointing to repeated reference to charges against him, said his "situation was like that of a rape victim, as they too are supposedly questioned about the incident repeatedly."

Kumaraswamy on Monday had announced a comprehensive SIT probe into the audio clip. He had accepted an "advice" by an emotional Speaker to constitute SIT to probe the episode to "establish the truth" as his name has also been dragged with the charge that he had been "booked" for Rs 50 crore.