Outrage As Congress Man Takes Off Siddaramaiah's Shoes Holding Tricolour

The Karnataka chief minister has been under fire from opposition parties over the alleged MUDA scam.

A video showing a Congress worker taking off the shoes of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with the Indian flag in his hand has prompted an attack from the BJP, which has accused the Congress leader of “insulting the nation’s pride”. Mr Siddaramaiah is already under fire from the BJP and its ally, the Janata Dal (Secular), over his alleged involvement in the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) ‘scam’. 

The video has also sparked outrage among some people on social media, who said it was distasteful and called for the flag being respected. 

During an event in Bengaluru on Wednesday to pay respect to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary, Mr Siddaramaiah, 76, stood waiting as a Congress worker took off his shoes. A video showed the worker holding a small Tricolour in his left hand as he did so and a person, who appears to be part of Mr Siddaramaiah’s security team, can be seen taking the flag from him. 

Reacting to the incident, senior BJP leader Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy said it was an insult and showed the Congress’ “culture”. 

“It’s an insult to the Nation’s pride, this is the culture of Congress party leaders, they must apologise to the Nation,” Mr Reddy wrote on X. 

It’s insult to Nation’s pride,this is the culture of Congress party leaders, they must apologise to the Nation

— Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy (Modi Ka Parivar) (@ReddySudhakar21) October 2, 2024

Mr Siddaramaiah is facing cases from the Lokayukta and the Enforcement Directorate after an activist complained that the allotment of plots of land in a prime area of Mysuru to the chief minister’s wife as compensation for land in a village nearby caused a loss of Rs 45 crore to the state. 

The 14 plots of land were allotted to BN Parvathi in Mysuru’s Vijayanagar Phase 3 and 4 by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) as compensation for the use of 3.16 acres of land in Kesare village near the city.

On Tuesday, MUDA said it had agreed to take back the plots from Ms Parvathi after she offered to give them up, stating that she was following her conscience. 

MUDA Commissioner AN Raghunandan said instructions have also been given to cancel the sale deeds. “This has no link with the investigation. We will inform the investigators if there is a probability of allotting this to someone else. There are provisions in the law. We will inform the Lokayukta and other investigating officers,” he added.

Mr Siddaramaiah has maintained that the land was gifted to his wife by her brother. “When I have done no wrong, why should I resign? The land was de-notified by senior BJP leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, not by me. My legal team will fight this,” the chief minister said on Tuesday. 

BY Vijayendra, who is the Karnataka BJP chief and son of BS Yediyurappa, hit back and said that the fact that the plots were being returned was like Mr Siddaramaiah admitting his mistake.