NEW DELHI.

energy minister

got agitated and attacked a man for trying to take a

behind him at an event on Monday. The shocking incident took place at a child rights event at a college in Belgaum. When confronted by media gathered at the event, the minister audaciously termed the entire incident as ‘normal’.

Shivakumar, a

MLA from Kanakapura constituency, was speaking to the media, when a student standing behind attempted to take a selfie on his mobile phone. The irritated minister suddenly turned his back and hit the student on his arm, following which the student lost control of his phone and it crashed on the ground. The student was then seen rushing to retrieve his mobile, while Shivakumar nonchalantly went back to addressing media.

The video later went viral on social media leading to strong backlash for the Karnataka energy minister, but he was far from apologetic about it.

“Have basic common sense. When I'm doing my responsibility & addressing the press how can someone come out for a selfie? It was a normal incident,” ANI reported him as saying.

Shivakumar is not new to controversies. In August this year, the Income Tax Department raided his residence as well as other properties in Bengaluru. He was even summoned by IT department to appear before them for alleged tax evasion. Back then, the Congress MLA claimed that he has done nothing wrong and that the raids were politically motivated and were done at the behest of BJP.