In an embarrassment to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, a video of a person tying his shoelaces at an event here has gone viral, prompting opposition BJP to dub him as ‘arrogant’ and ‘pseudo-secularist.’
The video shows a person bending down to tie the shoelaces of the Chief Minister and him looking elsewhere.
Some reports said the man was Siddaramaiah’s Personal Assistant staying at his house in Mysuru, but the Chief Minister’s media advisor clarified in a tweet that he was a relative.
The BJP was quick to react, with state party General Secretary C T Ravi dubbing Siddaramaiah as ‘arrogant’ and ‘pseudo socialist.’
In March this year, Siddaramaiah had been mired in a controversy over an expensive watch gifted to him and he had handed it over to the Speaker in the state assembly, declaring it a state asset.
He had written to the Speaker,saying he had paid ‘advance tax’ for the HUBLOT BIG BANG.301-M watch, claimed to be worth Rs 70 lakh and as Chief Minister, was following precedents set by his predecessors and declaring it as government asset
Siddaramaiah had said the watch was presented to him by his Dubai-based NRI friend Dr Girish Chandra Varma in July 2015 at Bengaluru as a personal gift.