Karnataka Congress MLA denies assaulting fellow MLA at resort, says will apologise if hurt

Bengaluru, Jan 21: Congress MLA J N Ganesh, who has been accused of thrashing his lawmaker colleague, denied reports of the alleged brawl with party legislator Anand Singh on Monday. However, the medical report has revealed severe injuries on face, eye and chest.

Dismissing the allegations of a brawl, Ganesh said that no such incident had taken place. "No such incident has taken place. Anand Singh, Bhima Naik and I were talking when something happened. This is it. What happened is personal. But what is being shown is complete lie. Even I was hurt but I didn't say anything," he said.

Meanwhile, Singh's wife, Laxmi, has threatened to take legal action against the errant MLA. Laxmi told the media that she will not keep quiet and will resort to legal action against Ganesh, if the report indicates the allegation to be true.

"If it is true that Ganesh beat up my husband, my children and I will not keep quiet and will take legal action against him," Laxmi Singh told a section of media from Mumbai.

She is currently in Mumbai to attend a relative's wedding and is expected to return to Bengaluru soon.

Anand Singh was hospitalised after he and Ganesh, both from Ballari district, had a heated argument and came to blows late last night at the resort where the party MLAs are herded together amid the BJP's alleged poaching attempt, according to sources.

Singh had "a black eye and suffered blunt injuries" and also complained of uneasiness in the chest, hospital sources said.

Ganesh is among the disgruntled Congress MLAs who was reportedly in touch with other dissidents in the party and was on BJP's radar in its alleged toppling game.

Meanwhile, Congress leaders had denied the whole incident, after which they termed it as a "friendly fight", alleging that all was well between the leaders in the party.S