Om Birla asks MPs to be alert to ask follow-up questions

Invoking the Mahabharat in the Lok Sabha is in vogue, Speaker Om Birla said on Friday while asking an MP not to narrate stories but ask to-the-point questions.

While addressing a question to the Union Ayush minister, BJP member from Odisha's Bargarh Pradip Purohit referred to an ayurvedic college and traced back the history of the herbs found in the area to ancient times. "Do not tell stories, ask the question ("aap Mahabharat mat sunao, aap prashna poocho")," Mr Birla told the member during the Question Hour.

The speaker then said invoking the Mahabharat is in vogue these days. "Aaj kal, Mahabharat sunane ka kissa zyada chala hai yahan par," Birla said.