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Updated: Jan 28, 2019 19:58 IST

Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah landed in controversy on Monday when he lost his cool with a woman Congress worker at a public meeting in Mysuru.  Siddaramaiah yelled at the woman and snatched her mike which led to her dupatta being pulled off.  The woman was criticising local MLA and Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra for not meeting the people of his constituency. 

The incident took place at a public meeting in Varuna, the constituency of Siddaramaiah’s son.  The woman, Jamalar, who was a former vice-president of the T Narsipura taluk panchayat, was airing her grievances regarding the erratic electricity supply in the area. 

A video of the incident that went viral shows Siddaramaiah getting angry after the woman banged the table while insisting that this was the first time she was seeing Yathindra, after the assembly elections. 

#WATCH Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah misbehaves with a woman at a public meeting in Mysuru. # Karnataka pic.twitter.com/MhQvUHIc3x — ANI (@ANI) January 28, 2019

An irate Siddaramaiah snatched the mic from Jamalar’s hand and asked her to shut up. “ Be quiet, shut up.  You say all sorts of things.  That boy [Yathindra] keeps coming here.  Listen to me, have you ever told me any of these things?  How many times have you told me?  I can’t write a letter to invite you, you have to come here when I am here.  Please sit down!  You struck the table, why?  Who has worked for this area, did you do the work?  Shut up and sit down.  There is a way to talk.  You speak like you are a big leader,” he said. 

Siddaramaiah later said he wasn’t misbehaving and only trying to stop a long speech. “ When I was trying to stop a long speech of a party worker thw incident happened.  It was an accident, there was no bad intention.  I know her for 15 years, she is just like my sister,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying. 

The BJP targeted the Congress-JD(S) government in the state and said “Dushasana has been finally reborn and resumed power in Karnataka.” 

Senior BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar said Congress president Rahul Gandhi needs to answer. “ Rahul Gandhi should tell what he’ll do with him.  This is a crime, the way he abused her.  That’s how they see women.  They only respect women from one family,” Javadekar said. 

The National Commission for Women took cognisance of the issue and said it would send Siddaramaiah a notice. “ .@NCWIndia has taken cognisance of the incident.  The commission will write to Karnataka Police to thoroughly investigate the matter and take appropriate action, as per law,” it tweeted. 

Speaking later to the media, Jamalar said she has no issues with Siddaramaiah. “ He (Siddaramaiah) was the best CM.  I only told him about some grievances and spoke roughly.  I shouldn’t have spoken like that to a former a CM.  He got angry because I slammed the table,” she said. 

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