Hyderabad: Minister Ponnam Prabhakar triggered uproar in the Telangana Assembly on Sunday with a body-shaming remark against BRS MLA and former minister Gangula Kamalakar. The exchange erupted during a debate on BC reservations.
Ponnam questioned Kamalakar’s grasp of the issue and added a personal swipe. “If you assume that a larger body means greater awareness, I don’t know what to say,” he remarked. He went on, “If Gangula believes I lack understanding, let me clarify I’ve been in politics since my student days and hold better qualifications. It’s wrong to equate size with insight.”
Ponnam Prabhakar body-shames BRS MLA during BC quota debate
Kamalakar shot back but chose not to escalate. “If I respond to body-shaming in kind, it will turn into a controversy,” he said. He then repeated his demand for a constitutional framework placing BC reservations under the Ninth Schedule to protect them from court challenges.
He pressed the government on delays. “Why did it take 20 months to move from introducing the bill to issuing a GO? This should have been done earlier so elections could proceed,” he said.
Kamalakar also criticised the Congress over lack of follow-up. He noted that the government issued GO No. 26 through the BC Commission in March 2024 but took no action after. “After that GO, the BC Commission itself disappeared,” he said.
