Bengaluru: On Monday, former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah yet again landed himself in a controversy after he snatched a woman party worker’s microphone and dislodged her dupatta.
A public interaction was organised by the senor Congress leader and his son Yathindra, MLA, in Varuna, Mysuru, to discuss about strengthening the party base in the constituency, and the whole incident was captured on a video.
The video showed that the woman, Jamalar, a former District Panchayat member, was upset that his son never visited the constituency after getting elected. She said she was not going to keep quiet any more. Siddaramaiah replied that his son keeps visiting the constituency but the woman didn’t agree. She thumped on the table in front of him twice and the visibly angry Siddaramaiah asked her to sit down and pulled her microphone, to which her dupatta got entangled.
Later speaking to the media, Jamalar said “The MLA does not visit our area. Where should we go if we have to get our official works done?” She also said she regretted thumping the table.
Siddaramaiah later clarified that the incident was an accident and it happened when he tried to stop the party worker from taking more time. He added that he knew the woman for more than 15 years and she was like his sister.
Following this, Chairperson of the National Commission for Women Rekha Sharma said tweeted that NCW would write to Karnataka Police to take appropriate action against the senior Congress leader.
BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa lashed out at the leader and said instead of addressing the woman’s grievance, Siddaramaiah displayed his anger by snatching the microphone from her and shouting at her.
BJP also compared the incident with the epic ‘Mahabharata,’ apparently refering to attempted disrobing of Draupadi. “@siddaramaiah threatening & abusing a women openly. Demon Dushyasana is finally reborn & resumed power in govt of Karnataka. This is how Cong-JDS treats women,” said a BJP tweet.
Siddaramaiah retaliated to BJP’s comments and said Jamalar has clarified on the Varuna incident. “The BJP is insulting the woman to give the incident a political colour. Everybody knows how much regard BJP has for women. I dont need anything to learn from them,” he tweeted.