Karnataka legislators collectively decided that the words "We are VIPs, we cannot stand in queues" was a perfectly reasonable thing to say out loud in a democracy, then got the Assembly Speaker to personally intervene and secure them four free tickets each.
In a display of entitlement that would make a medieval court blush, Karnataka MLAs across party lines demanded free VIP tickets to the IPL 2026 opener at Chinnaswamy Stadium. Congress MLA Vijayanand Kashappanavar led the charge, demanding 5 complimentary tickets per legislator and accusing the KSCA of black marketing, apparently unaware that "buying a ticket" is an option available to people who earn ₹2.5 lakh per month plus allowances. Assembly Speaker U.T. Khader personally intervened to secure MLAs four free tickets with VIP gallery access. Even Lalit Modi — not exactly a poster child for humility — called them out, tweeting that fans made the IPL, not elected representatives. The lone dissenter, BJP MLA S. Suresh Kumar, refused the tickets on principle, making him statistically rarer than a Karnataka road without potholes.