Last Updated:April 28, 2025, 17:32 IST

The incident took place at the ‘Save Constitution’ convention where CM Siddaramaiah was scheduled to address the gathering.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah nearly slaps police officer, reprimands ASP during Belagavi rally amid BJP protest. (X)

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has ignited a row after he was seen publicly castigating and nearly slapping a senior police official on stage at a public event in Belagavi on Monday.

The incident took place at the ‘Save Constitution’ convention where CM Siddaramaiah was scheduled to address the gathering. Meanwhile, some BJP women workers arrived at the venue with black scarves, protesting against Siddaramaiah.

In a show of frustration, he called Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Narayan Bharamani who was deployed for stage security, and rebuked him for the breach, and was seen raising his hand in an attempt to slap him.

“You, whoever you are, come here, what were you doing?” he asked and raised his hand to slap the officer, but stopped shortly at doing so. Subsequently, he instructed him to remove the people who are creating disturbance.

In the video, Siddaramaiah was seen losing his cool despite AICC general secretary Raneeep Singh Surjewala and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil trying to calm him down. He later questioned Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar, who is from Belagavi.

Siddaramaiah later resumed his speech and said, “BJP and RSS will try to disturb peace like this everywhere. They try to incite fire in the society. They try to divide the society. We will not fear such attempts by the BJP. We have the strength to face them publicly. I want to make this clear to them.” “If we ask our (Congress) workers to take care of BJP and RSS, they will ensure that they don’t open their tail. I condemn the BJP on behalf of all the Congress workers for indulging in such disruptions. Don’t you (BJP) feel ashamed?”

Asserting that Congress won’t fear such things, Siddaramaiah said, “We will not stop our protest against the central government’s price rise.” Questioning the BJP whether they are not ashamed to come to a Congress rally and try to disrupt it, the CM said Congress workers won’t budge or fear such things.

He then told the crowd, let’s not pay attention to disrupters, and continue with our protest.

Meanwhile, the opposition JDS accused the Chief Minister of arrogance and misconduct. The party criticised Siddaramaiah for raising his hand against the police officer in a public setting.

Describing the act as disrespectful, the party said that such behavior, including speaking in singular terms, was “an unforgivable crime.”

“Your term of power is only 5 years. But a government officer serves up to 60 years of age. Power is not permanent for anyone. Correct your misconduct,” it said in a post on X.

Union Minister and BJP leader Pralhad Joshi also condemned the act.

“The Congress government has not only excelled in misgovernance but has also surpassed all limits in arrogance. In the intoxication of power, the Chief Minister has the audacity to raise a hand against a dutiful officer… Pretending to protect the Constitution while raising hands against the guardians of the law is an act of extreme behavior and arrogance. This is condemnable….” he said.

“Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah during a rally in Belagavi tried to slap a police officer. I condemn it, and what kind of message does the Chief Minister want to give by doing this? Various leaders of the BJP Mahila Morcha also staged a protest against the Chief Minister. In a democracy, every person has the right to stage a protest…Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah is famous in Pakistan as he speaks well of Pakistan,” Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje was quoted by news agency ANI.

(With inputs from agencies)