BENGALURU : A day after a video of him slapping a supporter went viral, KPCC president D K Shivakumar justified his actions, saying the man was a close confidant and distant relative, and that they “shared a bond”.
Shivakumar was caught on camera assaulting a party worker who tried to put his arms around the leader. The KPCC chief proceeded to chide the man, and then asked the media to delete footage of the incident. Shivakumar told reporters on Sunday, “He is our boy. He belongs to our house and is also a distant relative. He tried to put his arms around me and I hit him for behaving like that in public. I am not denying that I hit him, but it was for his mistake. That is the kind of relationship and bonding we have,” Shivakumar said.
But the man who was slapped does not echo this version of the story. Instead, he said he was hurt by the incident, and went close to the Congress president only to get a photograph, as he is a Vokkaliga leader. It has come to light that the man Shivakumar slapped was Umesh, a JDS worker from Torabommanahalli in Bharatinagar, and not a relative or follower. The Congress leader was in KM Doddi to inquire after G Madegowda, and landed in the slapping controversy.
The Congress leader even taunted the media for highlighting the video. “That’s the bond between us, but you kept playing the video as if it was a big deal. You made that boy a leader too,” he mocked. Shivakumar also insisted that the more than Rs 150 crore spent on the caste census during Siddaramaiah’s chief ministership should not go waste.