Law Minister J. C. Madhuswamy on Thursday tendered an apology to the woman member of a farmers’ group whom he had allegedly verbally abused during an inspection visit to Kolar.
It had been widely reported in the media that the Minister had even called her “rascal” when she kept on insisting that action should be taken against those who had encroached a lake area in Kolar.
The episode had not only triggered public outrage, but had also taken a political twist with the Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah demanding that he be dropped from the ministry.
However, on Thursday, the Minister tendered an apology while talking to a private TV channel which arranged a telephonic conversation with him and the aggrieved person.
“I will apologise if I have hurt the feelings of a woman,” the Minister said, while maintaining that his outbursts were not intentional. “I lost my cool as the woman repeatedly referred to the episode of encroachments despite me assuring of taking stringent measures,” he said.
“We will conduct a survey regarding encroachments. From next week, I will also conduct an inquiry to know how the encroached land was transferred to others,” he said.
