Exercise is anathema for MLAs

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">bangalore: the health club started for karnataka legislators in 1997 with much fanfare at the legislators'' home here does not seem to have enthused the members. according to the attendance marked in the club register, only 45 per cent of the 300 legislators have visited the health club since its inception on march 27, 1997.even those who have visited are not regulars. the regulars include are appachu ranjan, prabhakar bangera, s.v. manjunath, b.s. horatti, b.v. karigowda, a. nagaraju and m.v. kattimani. the idea of a health club exclusively for the legislators __ and their immediate family members __ was mooted by the then assembly speaker ramesh kumar. equipment worth rs 13 lakh was bought. ``ramesh kumar was a regular. rarely he missed coming to the club. he used to check the register to know who the regular visitors are,'''' club''s coach-cum-supervisor n. ramesh told <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">the sunday times of india.</span> there are separate cabins for sauna, oil massage and a whirlpool. the club has treadmill, static cycle, dumbbells and scores of other equipment which have been maintained well. there is no fee but rs 17.50 is charged for sauna and steam bath, while massage costs rs 20 for one session. ramesh said: ``legislators are courteous. they adhere to our instructions while doing exercises.'''' the health club is, however, not without complaints. women legislators do not have a separate enclosure to do exercise. ``there is no changing room. it is not comfortable to do exercise with male colleagues. at least there should be separate timings for women legislators,'''' jds mlc prafulla madhukar said. science and technology minister nafees fazal is among those who prefer to do exercise at home rather than at the club. incidentally, among the health-conscious members, two former cms -- h.d. deve gowda and s. bangarappa -- have also not availed of the club''s facilities. gowda has installed a treadmill at his house while chief minister s.m. krishna plays tennis to keep himself fit. public works minister dharam singh and home minister mallikarjuna kharge go to the indian institute of science campus for walk. cooperation minister d.k. shivakumar does yoga at home. </div> </div>