Siddaramaiah dubs pulling dupatta incident ‘accident'; Woman regrets speaking ‘roughly'

Mysuru, Jan 28: Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said the incident in which he snatched mike from a woman and in the process pulled her dupatta was an accident, and that there was no bad intention.

The incident, which was captured on video, shows the former CM shouting the woman down. The unperturbed woman continued with her questions and others had to intervene to calm her down.

"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 know her for 15 years, she is just like my sister," Siddaramaiah told the media today (January 28).

The woman, Jamala, said that the former chief minister got angry because she had spoken roughly and even banged the table with her palm.

"I have no issues, he 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," Jamala told the media.

During a meeting in Mysuru, the woman, Jamala, stood up and raised her concerns. Even after being asked to sit down, Jamala continued with her complaints and even reportedly said that she has not been able to get in touch with MLA Yathindra. At this, the former CM, lost his cool and lunged towards the woman to snatch the very mic she was holding. In the process, the dupatta also came off with the mike.

The BJP has launched a scathing attack on the Congress over the incident and asked Rahul Gandhi to speak on the matter. Taking a jibe at the Congress, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said,"That's how they see women. They only respect women from one family."