BIHAR: At a meeting of the American Association of Physicians of Indian origin, Ramadoss set off another controversy when he blamed “a doctor from Bihar” as the reason for UK derecognising Indian medical degrees in the 1970s as he did not know where the spleen was. The nation-wide stir that resulted forced the Minister to apologise publicly, saying: “It (Medicine) is a noble profession and I respect everyone coming from any state — be it Bihar or UP.”

CRICKET: The Minister has pulled up the Indian Premier League (IPL) for “promoting” liquor through surrogate advertising—liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s team is called ‘Royal Challengers’ (also the name of a whiskey brand owned by his UB Group). Ramadoss has promised to take up the issue with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. His remark came just a day after the Supreme Court rejected a PIL seeking that ‘Royal Challengers’ not be allowed to play under that name.