Two ministers in India’s Karnataka state were allegedly caught watching porn in the state assembly on Tuesday, according to a report by Indian NDTV channel.
The channel reported that the state legislature was debating the issue of hoisting of a Pakistani flag in the Bijapur district as well as communal tension elsewhere in the state.
The ministers, identified as Laxman Savadi and CC Patil, belonged to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which refused to comment on the controversy while Chief Minister V Sadananda Gowda was away from Bangalore on an official tour.
Angry protesters pelted stones at Patil’s house after the footage was aired, the report said.
A local channel covering the assembly’s proceedings showed the ministers using a mobile phone to watch what “obscene” content. Some in the BJP say the ministers were watching a news story on a rape.
Sources say the two ministers watched two clips – one was porn, the other was the news story that the BJP cites off the record in their defence.
The footage was aired by local TV channels after the House adjourned for the day. Private regional channels are allowed, like the state-run Doordarshan, to telecast the proceedings of the assembly.
Former chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular) party leader HD Kumaraswamy called the ministers’ behaviour a “black mark” in the history of the state assembly, the channel reported.
