A complaint was filed against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with the Karnataka State Women's Commission on Monday in relation to the controversy surrounding an incident where the dupatta of a woman was pulled off while trying to wrest a microphone from her on Monday.
The incident occurred back in 2019, in Varuna Constituency in Mysuru district during an event.
BJP Mandya Spokesperson C.T. Manjunath has filed a complaint on the issue and appeals to the Women's Commission to take up a suo moto case regarding the episode.
The complaint has been filed online. In his complaint, Manjunath has appealed to the President of the State Women's Commission, Nagalakshmi Choudhary, to file a complaint against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as 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 do not 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, said Manjunath.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was at the center of 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 happened 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.
He claims his son often comes to the constituency, to which she vigorously objected.
The woman tapped the table again, further infuriating Siddaramaiah, who shouted at her and forcefully asked her to sit.
As she tapped the table again, Siddaramaiah lost his cool and snatched the microphone by which the dupatta got entangled.
Later, Siddaramaiah took to Twitter (now X) to downplay the incident, saying 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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