Nine MPs including four from Karnataka did not speak in Lok Sabha in past 5 years

BN Bachegowda, Anant Kumar Hegde, V Srinivas Prasad and Ramesh Jigajinagi are the Karnataka MPs in the list while others are actor-turned lawmakers Shatrughnan Sinha and Sunny Deol, and also Atul Rai, Pradan Barua and Dibyendu Adhikari.

New Delhi: Lok Sabha sat for 1,354 hours in the past five years but nine MPs, including four BJP MPs from Karnataka, did not speak even during this period or participate in any discussion.

BN Bachegowda, Anant Kumar Hegde, V Srinivas Prasad and Ramesh Jigajinagi are the Karnataka MPs in the list while others are actor-turned lawmakers Shatrughan Sinha and Sunny Deol, Atul Rai, Pradan Baruah and Dibyendu Adhikari, Lok Sabha Secretariat sources said.

Three of them did not even submit a question or table a submission while the six others used at least one of the Parliamentary instruments.

Jigajinagi did not raise any question or table any submission besides not speaking in the House while the three other MPs from Karnataka participated in some form though they did not participate in debates, sources said referring to the records.

Like Jigajinagi, sources said Sinha, who is known for his dialogue delivery in films, and Rai also did not participate in any form. Rai has been in jail throughout his tenure while Sinha entered Lok Sabha through a bypoll in April 2022.

Of the nine MPs, six MPs are from the ruling BJP while two are from Trinamool Congress – Sinha and Dibyendu Adhikari and one BSP – Atul Rai. Trinamool Congress sources claimed Adhikari is linked to the BJP through his father and MP Sisir Adhikari.

Adhikari, Bachegowda, Baruah, Deol, Hegde and Prasad did not speak but either submitted questions or tabled submissions. Sources said Deol did not speak but did tabled written submissions in discussions.

According to Lok Sabha statistics, the 17th Lok Sabha saw 222 Bills getting passed while ministers orally answering 1,116 questions. It also showed that 5,568 issues were raised during the Zero Hour.