The incident happened when Kerala Finance Minister KM Mani was presenting the Budget
She turned into a national headline when she was seen on camera biting a Congress law-maker in the Kerala legislature. Today, Jameela Prakasham, 57, defended her action. "The MLA had twisted my arm from the back. His other arm came resting on my waist. I was falling behind and he hit me on my backside... I warned him to leave me or else I would bite him. He challenged me to do so and that's when I bit him." To bolster her defense, Ms Prakasham brandished photographs of the incident for reporters today.
The bite she engineered on the law-maker's shoulder last week was part of nearly an hour of havoc that flooded the Kerala Assembly while the annual budget for the state was being shared on Friday by the Congress-led coalition government. Law-makers from the Left, demanding the resignation of Finance Minister K M Mani, clashed with government MLAs in the Assembly. Mics were flung and the Speaker's chair and computer were hurled across the floor and computer broken.
Five Opposition law-makers have been suspended for the violence; Left leader VS Achuthanandan says that's grossly unfair because the government has spared its own offenders, including those who harassed women law-makers including Ms Prakasham.