Tamil Nadu Municipal Administration Minister KN Nehru has been caught on camera slapping DMK corporator T. Pushparaja of Tiruchy Corporation at an official function.
A video clip of the incident, which took place on January 6 at a function in Periyamilaguprai soon after he announced the opening of an overhead tank, surfaced on Tuesday. Those who attended the event included Tiruchi Mayor M. Anbazhagan, Collector M. Pradeep Kumar and Municipal Commissioner R. Vaithinathan were involved.
, Video Credits: Special Arrangement
The video clip shows Mr Nehru slapping ward 54 councilor Mr Pushparaj on the back of the head when he was assisting him in distributing stainless steel vessels filled with water to Periyamilaguprai residents.
In the footage, Mr. Nehru apparently asks Mr. Pushparaj to advance pots filled with water from a public tap so that they can be handed over to the women, symbolically indicating that their long-pending drinking water The issue has been resolved. Construction of a special overhead water tank in their residential locality.
Upset over the passing of some empty utensils during the process, Mr. Nehru slapped the councilor. Mr. Pushparaj keeps on picking up the filled pitchers without any emotion and handing them over to the minister. He then interacts with the residents and moves on to attend other functions.
When contacted Mr. Nehru told Hindu That the councilor tried to take his blessings by touching his feet. “I didn’t like the gesture. So, I scolded him gently. There was nothing more to it. I didn’t intend to insult the councillor,” he claimed.
According to the minister, some elements who wanted to divert attention from the incident in the Assembly (where Governor RN Ravi walked out following the chief minister’s disapproval of the deviation from the accepted text of his address) had blown it out of proportion.
Mr Pushparaj was not available for comment.