karnataka

Updated: Jun 26, 2020 01:21 IST

Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was on Wednesday caught on camera slapping his aide outside Mysuru Airport after getting ‘irritated by his behavioiur’.

The video, shared by news agency ANI, shows the 71-year-old leader walking away after talking to media when the aide approaches him. Siddaramaiah looks at him and slaps him before pushing him away. The video has gone viral on social media.

Watch: Siddaramaiah slaps Congress worker at Mysuru airport, video goes viral

Siddaramaiah’s office, when contacted about the incident, said that the Congress worker was an aide of Siddaramaiah and had tried to push the phone to Siddaramaiah asking him to speak to some official and “recommend him”. Irritated by his behaviour Siddaramaiah slapped him, a statement said, reports Deccan Herald

In an earlier incident, Siddaramaiah had lost his cool while talking to a woman in Mysuru in January. That time too, a video of the incident had gone viral. In it, Siddaramaiah was seen snatching a microphone from the woman after getting angry over something. The woman was reportedly complaining about employees of the revenue department.

The former chief minister also faced some embarrassing moments in 2016, when a woman placed a peck on his cheek at a public meeting. The incident happened at a programme organised by the Karnataka Pradesha Kuruba Sangha to felicitate the newly elected members of zilla panchayats and taluk panchayats, at the palace grounds here.

Standing next to Chief Minister for a group photo, Girija Srinivas, who is the Tarikere Taluk Panchayat member from Amruthapura in Chikmagalur district, gave a peck on his cheek in a moment of joy, and walked away.

Siddaramaiah, visibly embarrassed by the incident, wiped his cheek with a big smile.

Speaking to a TV channel, the woman said she was happy that the Chief Minister was also a Kuruba, and called him a “lion of the community”. Speaking to reporters Siddaramaiah said, “that girl is like my daughter.”