Ajmer: A photograph of a Rajasthan minister urinating near a wall in Ajmer, right next to a campaign poster featuring chief minister Vasundhara Raje has gone viral on social media.

The minister, Shambhu Singh Khatesar, defended himself by saying that urinating in the open was "an age-old tradition" and he had done nothing wrong.

The minister has caused major embarrassment to the BJP on two counts – the poster where the minister relieved himself featured chief minister Vasundhara Raje and the act is clearly at odds with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat mission.

But the minister denied that he urinated near the poster. "The photo of me urinating against a wall is not near the campaign poster," he told news agency ANI.

Khatesar also said he did not flout PM Modi’s mission objective as while “defecating in public may cause diseases, urinating in the open was not an issue, as long as it is done in a secluded area”.

"The area where I urinated was completely secluded. If a man urinates in such a place, dirt and disease cannot spread," he said.

He also said he was forced to urinate in the open as there was no urinal nearby for kilometres at a stretch and he had a busy morning due to an election rally.

That there was not a single urinal is particularly egregious as right next to it was a venue for a BJP poll rally, where according to the minister himself, over 2.5 lakh people were in attendance.

(With inputs from ANI)