Mandya (Karnataka), Dec 23 A complaint was lodged against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with the Karnataka State Women’s Commission on Monday in connection with the controversial incident of dislodging of dupatta of a woman while snatching a microphone from her.
The incident took place in 2019 in Varuna Constituency in Mysuru district during an event.
BJP Mandya Spokesperson C.T. Manjunath has lodged a complaint in this regard and urged the Women’s Commission to take up a suo moto case regarding the incident.
The complaint has been sent online. In his complaint, Manjunath has urged the President of the State Women’s Commission, Nagalakshmi Choudhary, to lodge a complaint against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah like how the Commission took up a suo moto case against BJP MLC C.T. Ravi in connection with his alleged derogatory statement against Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar.
“In this incident, CM Siddaramaiah had dragged the dupatta of a woman and insulted her. We don’t know whether that woman had lodged a complaint or not. There might be a chance that the woman might have been threatened not to file a complaint,” Manjunath stated.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah landed in a controversy in January 2019 when he engaged in a verbal 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 Siddaramaiah, his son, then MLA Yathindra who represented Varuna Assembly constituency, and others, was caught on camera and the video of the incident had gone viral.
The meeting convened to discuss strengthening the party base in the constituency, was earlier held by Siddaramaiah, ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
While the BJP had condemned the incident, then Chairperson of the National Commission for Women Rekha Sharma said the panel would write to Karnataka Police seeking appropriate action on the matter.
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.
Siddaramaiah maintained that his son keeps visiting the constituency, which she strongly contested.
The woman tapped the table, 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.
Siddaramaiah later took to Twitter (now X) to play down the incident, saying that it was an accident and that the woman is like his sister.
"When I was trying to stop a long speech of a party worker, that incident happened, it was an accident… there was no bad intention. I have known her for 15 years, she is just like my sister," he had tweeted.
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