BANGALORE: Barely two hours after Zameer Ahmed Khan and seven others were sworn in as members of the H.D. Kumaraswamy Ministry on Wednesday, his oath-taking in English in the names of his mother and the Chief Minister became a topic of debate in the Legislative Council.

Within minutes of the Congress ending a two-day dharna in the well of the House over Mr. Kumaraswamy's statements on the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project, "Mukhyamantri" Chandru (Bharatiya Janata Party) said the Government must apologise to the people of the State for inducting into the Ministry a person who did not know Kannada. Mr. Ahmed had taken the unusual step of taking the oath in the name of his mother and Mr. Kumaraswamy, and not as per constitutionally established norms, he said. He wondered how the Minister would be able to serve Kannadigas if he showed scant respect for the language.

In the golden jubilee year of the State's formation, it would send a wrong signal to the people, Mr. Chandru said and demanded that Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleague apologise.

Many Congress members made the demand. Leader of the Opposition H.K. Patil said English was a national language, and it was acceptable for a Minister to take oath in the language. However, people would have to be reassured that the Government was making efforts to promote and safeguard the supremacy of Kannada as the State language.

M.P. Nadagouda (Janata Dal-United) said Mr. Ahmed could take oath in any language, taking the name of the Chief Minister and other persons set a bad precedent. But there might be people who would want to take oath in Bengali or Tamil, he said.

Mr. Kumaraswamy defended Mr. Ahmed's right to take oath in any language, and this evoked protests. He said: "Neither I nor this House can decide the Minister's method of demonstrating his love and duty for the Kannada language. He is an elected member, but members seem to have a different opinion. In future, I will ensure that he uses Kannada in his work."

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