Mysuru: Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah landed in a controversy on Monday when he engaged in a wordy duel with a woman and snatched the microphone from her, dislodging her dupatta in the process, at an event in Varuna in Mysuru.
The incident which occurred during a public interaction organised by Mr Siddaramaiah, his MLA son Yathindra who represents Varuna assembly constituency, and others, was caught on camera with the video of it going viral.
Mr Siddaramaiah was quick to apologise to Ms Jamlar, a Congress worker and former taluk panchayat president involved in the incident, as he flung the dupatta back to her.
But the entire back and forth between the former chief minister and Ms Jamlar had already been marred by Siddaramaiah repeatedly asking her to sit down and stop talking, all in a raised tone.
For damage control Mr Siddaramaiah tweeted: “The incident which occurred while trying to stop the huge speech of a party worker, was accidental. There was no bad intention in it. I know that party worker for past 15 years and she is like my sister.”
The fraught interaction occurred at Gargeswari village on Monday when Mr Siddaramaiah visited the village for the inauguration of a development project. It was at that point of time that taluk Panchayat member Ms Jamlar spelt out her list of grievances.
As other Congress workers tried to shout her down, Mr Siddaramaiah could be heard telling her, “I have worked for your constituency. Yathindra is available thrice a week. And you can come and meet me whenever I am available in Mysuru. There is a way to share the problem. Banging the table is not right.”
However, she told the leaders of the village that this was the first time Mr Siddaramaiah had made himself available to her after elections, and it was an opportunity for her to bring several issues to his notice and she would not stop.
When Mr Siddaramaiah asked if Varuna MLA Mr Yathindra was not available, she banged the table in front of the former chief minister and shouted, “No, Sir,” leading Mr Siddaramaiah to lose his cool, and grab the mike.
