Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s angry retort on a senior police officer at a public function on Thursday in Mandya has become a major row in the State. The incident took place during a public function where Mandya Superintendent of Police CH Sudhir Kumar Reddy was also present.
The Chief Minister publicly admonished the officer and called him a ‘useless fellow’ after the BJP protesters waved black flags and tried to block his cavalcade. The BJP workers were demanding loan waivers for the farmers.
The Chief Minister was very angry and called the SP on to the dais, blasted at him in public glare calling him useless and told him to get out. The video which went viral in the social media and local channels has come under severe criticism. The channels also showed Siddaramaiah slipping into sleep unperturbed by the incident.
The BJP was quick to criticise the attitude of the Chief Minister and pulled him for taking the Superintendent of Police to task in full public view during a programme and said that every political party has the right to protest against injustice in a democracy.
S Prakash of the BJP camedown heavily on the attitude of the Chief Minister and said “In a democracy every party has the right to protest and it was wrong attitude of the Chief Minister to angrily retort on a public servant in the public.”
He said “Chief Minister has shown intolerance towards an officer on duty while the officer was performing his duty. Why did Chief Minister lost cool when the BJP workers protested against him demanding waver of agricultural loan.”
The bureaucracy is also upset with the outburst of the CM and some of the senior officers on condition of anony-
mity said it was wrong on the Chief Minister to blast the SP in the full public glare. Reddy is a 2010 batch IPS officer.