Enraged at being prevented from burning an effigy of Congress leader Siddaramaiah during a protest, former MLA A. Papareddy slapped a police constable in Raichur on November 3.
A video clip of the BJP leader arguing with the constable Raghavendra, who is attached to Raichur West Police Station, and slapping him was being shared on social media.
Watch | BJP leader slaps police constable
The incident occurred during a protest by BJP Scheduled Castes’ Morcha against Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah who had, during a recent election rally in Sindgi, reportedly said that Dalit leaders had quit Congress and joined BJP to secure their livelihood. Accusing the former Chief Minister of insulting the Dalit community, BJP activists attempted to burn an effigy of Mr. Siddaramaiah.
However, a few policemen in plainclothes, including Mr. Raghavendra, prevented them from doing so and took away the effigy from the protest site. Mr. Papareddy followed the policemen and slapped Mr. Raghavendra.
BJP activists later took the effigy and burnt it.
Speaking to mediapersons after the incident, Mr. Papareddy claimed that he assumed the policeman in plainclothes was a BJP activist.
“He [the police constable] was in plainclothes, and I thought he was our activist. He had a BJP flag and took the effigy away from the protest site... Siddaramaiah has been verbally attacking BJP leaders, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. Congress had burnt an effigy of Mr. Modi many times. They had burnt the effigy of [BJP leader] B.S. Yediyurappa in front of Vidhana Soudha. Why didn’t the police stop them? Why do they have so much love for Mr. Siddaramaiah? Burning effigies of political leaders is nothing news. But police have attempted to prevent us from burning an effigy of Mr. Siddaramaiah,” Mr. Papareddy said.
He refused to apologise to the constable. Instead, he demanded action against him for infiltrating the protest and disturbing the protesters.
Raichur Superintendent of Police Nikhil B. told The Hindu that a case would be registered against Mr. Papareddy.
“I came to know about the incident, and I am going to meet the constable to gather more information. We cannot let it go. We have taken the issue seriously and will book a case shortly,” Mr. Nikhil said.
