Speaker mulls action against Om Puri, actor sorry

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said Monday that she was considering a privilege motion against actor Om Puri for his "derogatory and defamatory" remarks against MPs during a rally in Ramlila Maidan last week.

"The matter is under my consideration. I have received notices on the question of privilege," the speaker said in the Lok Sabha as the actor apologised for his comments in which called politicians "uneducated" and "incompetent".

Congress MPs Praveen Singh Aron, Jagdambika Pal, Vinay Pandey, Harsh Vardhan, P.L. Punia and Kamal Kishor, as also Mirza Mehboob Beg (National Conference) and Ramashankar Rajbhar (Bahujan Samaj Party) have given notices against Puri for using "derogatory and defamatory words against members of parliament and also casting reflections on the house".

The Samajwadi Party's Premdas Katheria and Shailendra Kumar have also given notices against the Bollywood actor, known for his roles in films as varied as "Ardh Satya", "West is West" and "Chachi 420".

Puri apologised and said he wasn't drunk as some people had said, just emotionally charged.

"I respect the parliament and the costitutional body. I am very proud to be an Indian. It was wrong on my part to use such terms. I wasn't drunk, I was just emotionally charged, such things do come from mouth.....even our politicians at times, in a fit of anger, use such things," Om told CNN-IBN.

"I would love to be there (in the parliament) to explain my emotions... the forum which leaders like Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru have been a part of. If they (parliament) are still angry with me I will take whatever punishment they give me," the actor added.

The 60-year-old actor created a stir Friday with his speech attacking politicians. He told the thousands gathered that he feels "ashamed when an IAS or IPS officer salutes a ganwar (illiterate) who is a neta (political leader)".

"Yeh anpadh hain, inka kya background hai? Aadhe se zyaada MP ganwaar hain...," the well known actor said.