india

Updated: Sep 25, 2019 23:39 IST

Former Union minister and current Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Chandra Shekhar Sahu stoked a controversy on Wednesday after a video clip of him slapping a former Congress worker went viral on social media.

Sahu, who was a Union minister in the first term of Manmohan Singh government, was seen slapping Sangram Sahu, a former Youth Congress president of Odisha’s Gajapati district during his induction into the BJD at a ceremony in Paralakhemundi town on Tuesday. Around 1,000 leaders and workers from Congress and BJP had joined the BJD at an executive committee meeting when Sahu slapped the former Youth Congress worker.

The MP was apparently livid over the youth Congress worker brushing aside the scarf that was put on his shoulder by party observor Purna Chandra Swain. As the video clip went viral, BJP leader Bhrigu Buxipatra said the BJD MP’s conduct was shameful.

“A former Union Minister & a sitting Parliamentarian (Berhampur MP) slaps a fan in full public view. Hasn’t he brought disgrace to Odisha with such outrageous and shameful conduct? Hope everyone is watching!” he tweeted.

State Congress president Niranjan Patnaik said Sahu’s slapping was an unfortunate incident.

But the man who was slapped denied the incident, saying it was an affectionate pat on the cheek and not a slap. “I know him for the past 20 years. He did not slap me. Though I wanted the MP to put the angavastram around my shoulder, the party observor put it and so I brushed it away. I don’t consider the incident as an insult,” he said.

The BJD MP was later pulled up by chief minister Naveen Patnaik for his rude behaviour following which he apologised. “Being a senior leader, I shouldn’t have lost my cool. I regret my behaviour as such an incident had never happened in last 40-45 years of my political career,” said Chandrashekhar Sahu.