Bangalore, July 08: An assistant engineer of Bangalore Mahanagara Palike fainted and was hospitalised after a minister allegedly scolded him. There are also allegations that the minister hit the engineer.
The incident comes just days after an Andhra Pradesh MP slapped a bank manager.
Bangalore Mahanagara Palike assistant engineer AN Somaraju has been in hospital for two days as he fainted after being allegedly scolded by Karnataka Housing Minister V Somanna.
Somaraju family also claims they are now being threatened.
“We have complained against Somanna. Just as no teacher should hit a student, nobody should abuse another person. If he is senior, then he could’ve issued a notice or taken alternative action,” said Somaraju’s wife Triveni.
Senior police officers are not talking about the case on camera, but said a complaint has been lodged in the Bangalore West jurisdiction.
The case is a non-cognisable offence for voluntarily causing hurt and police are waiting for permission from the court to further investigate the matter.
There were also allegations that Somanna had hit Somaraju. The episode is all set to become a political pot-boiler though Somanna claims says it was just a review meeting and that he doesn’t even know Somaraju.
“All this is just drama. It’s being instigated by my friends from Congress. There is nothing more,” claimed Somanna.
Somanna had shifted from the Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party just four months back and was rewarded with a Cabinet post H
is former colleagues are now waiting to take him on in the coming session of the Assembly..
“Somanna should apologise for the incident and behave as a human being and if he doesn’t want… then Chief Minister should take action,” said KPCC President RV Deshpande.
How big the issue blows up will also depend on Samaraju’s statement after he has recovered.
–Agencies