Bengaluru: A BJP Minister in Karnataka was caught in camera slapping a woman at a public function on Sunday for which the Minister for Housing and Infrastructure tendered a half-hearted apology.
Karnataka Minister V Somanna was seen slapping a woman when the woman tried to share her woes of landlessness and pleading to allot her a plot at a function organised for delivering property ownership documents to landless people at Hangla village in Chamarajanagar district.
When the video went viral on social media, he came out explaining the situation where he raised his hand at the woman. He said the programme was organised to deliver property documents to poor people, but the woman insisted he should hear her grievances despite his gesture of his readiness after a while.
He claimed he had no other intention but to make her understand the situation by his hand gesture, for he said he kept high regard for women and poor people. Minister Somanna apologised for the incident to the people who were hurt by it.
Responding to the incident, former Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah said it was an incident that proved what kind of a man he is. The people who handle power should be patient and Somanna failed the test to continue in the post, urging him to quit.
Congress national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged that the "arrogance has gone into the heads" of the BJP ministers.
Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh said: "What a difference from the way @RahulGandhi began the Karnataka leg of #BharatJodoYatra from the very same Gundlupet on 30th September! This shameless man should be sacked immediately!" Ramesh tweeted. The Congress MP was referring to Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, which entered Karnataka from Gundlupet last month, where the incident occurred on Saturday.
A video shared by the Minister's office defending the incident showed the woman denying the slapping, where she could be heard saying instead the Minister was consoling her with the promise of helping her.