Mysuru: In what appeared to be a sudden fit of rage, senior Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday slapped one of his close aides outside Mysuru Airport.
The person whom Siddaramaiah slapped is Naadnally Ravi who is also a former village Panchayat member.
In a video of the incident, Ravi appears to be trying to give a phone to Siddaramaiah right after the two walked away following the Congress leader’s press conference. However, Siddaramaiah slapped Ravi, held him by the arm to push him ahead and walked away.
Ravi, however, had no objection and said Sidharamaiah is his “guru”.
“He is like my father and I am a follower of Siddaramaiah. When he came to Mysuru Airport, I went there and received him. When he came out, I gave phone to him by saying Marigowda (Sidharamaiah’s close aid) was on line… But Sidharamaiah sir said he wants to attend AK Subbaiah’s program. A slap by my guru doesn’t need to be given much importance. I’m a big follower of him and I have no issues with that,” Ravi said.
Soon after coming out from Mysuru Airport, Siddaramaiah addressed the media and slammed Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. He said that the recent arrests of former Fiance Minister P Chidambaram and Congress leader DK Shivakumar are “different, but the agenda and motive of arresting both is same – that’s politics.”
“Congress will protest throughout the state in support of DK Shivakumar and against the arrests,” he said.
Shivakumar was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday evening. Karnataka Congress has called for statewide protests on Wednesday against the arrest of their party leader.
This is not the first time when Siddaramaiah lost his temper on camera.
A few months ago, Siddaramaiah was caught on camera losing his cool while interacting with a woman in Mysuru.
In a video, Siddaramaiah was seen furiously snatching away the mike from the woman’s hand and in the process, her ‘dupatta’ also dropped.