Siddaramiah ‘manhandling’ of woman at Mysuru event draws ire

Bengaluru, January 28

Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah landed in a controversy 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 that occurred during a public interaction organised by Siddaramaiah, his MLA son Yathindra who represents Varuna assembly constituency, and others, was caught on camera with the video of it going viral.

While the BJP condemned the incident, Chairperson of the National Commission for Women Rekha Sharma said the commission would write to Karnataka Police seeking appropriate action on the matter.

 The meet was convened to discuss strengthening the party base in the constituency, earlier held by Siddaramaiah, ahead of the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The video showed a wordy duel between Siddaramaiah and Jamalar, a former District Panchayat member, who said she was upset that his son Yathindra "showed up" seven months after getting elected.

“I am not going to keep quiet. We are seeing Saheb today, during the election time,” Jamalar said at the meeting.

Her accusation irked Siddaramaiah, who said his son keeps visiting the constituency, which she strongly contested.

The woman tapped the table to buttress her point, further enraging Siddaramaiah, who shouted at her and forcibly asked her to sit.

As she beat the table the second time, Siddaramaiah lost his cool and snatched the microphone with which the dupatta got entangled.

Later speaking to reporters, Jamalar said the local officers did not respond and they wanted the MLA's intervention.

"The MLA does not visit our area. Where should we go if we have to get our official works done?" Jamalar askedShe, however, regretted thumping the table.

In a tweet, NCW chief Sharma said "NCWIndia has taken Suo Motu cognisance. Will write to Karnataka Police to take appropriate action."

As local channels and a national news channel played the video in a loop, rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) quickly sensed an opportunity. A tweet from BJP’s Karnataka unit showed a clipping of the video played by a local news channel, with a tweet in Kannada that, when translated, read: “Modern practice of the Kaurav government?”

Another tweet by the BJP, this one in English, read: "CM @hd_kumaraswamy asks a farmer women were she slept. JDS MLA Sa Ra Mahesh calls women cop bloody rascal. & here is @siddaramaiah threatening & abusing a women openly Demon Dushyasana is finally reborn & resumed power in govt of Karnataka.  This is how Cong-JDS treats women".   

Condemning Siddaramaiah for losing cool, BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa said: “The aggrieved woman is from Congress. She is complaining that the MLA is not available”.

"Instead of addressing her grievance persuasively, Siddaramaiah displayed his anger by snatching the microphone from her and shouting at her." 

The development comes as tensions escalate within the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition in the state—primarily the underlying tensions between Chief Minister HD Kumaswamy and Siddaramiah.  A day after two Congress ministers and a legislator claimed that Siddaramaiah was their leader and was a better administrator, and that no “development projects” had been undertaken under the current regime, an exasperated Kumaraswamy told the press earlier on Sunday: ““I am ready to quit if my style of functioning is not acceptable to anyone. The Congress must control its MLAs and resolve the issues. If they remark against me frequently in open meetings, I am willing to step down”. Agencies     

CM @hd_kumaraswamy asks a farmer women were she slept

JDS MLA Sa Ra Mahesh calls women cop bloody rascal

& here is @siddaramaiah threatening & abusing a women openly

Demon Dushyasana is finally reborn & resumed power in govt of Karnataka.

This is how Cong-JDS treats women pic.twitter.com/iMUIgzRFmC

— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) January 28, 2019