Transport minister D C Thammanna abuses villagers for voting for Sumalatha Ambareesh
Bengaluru: Far from being gracious in defeat, transport minister, D C Thammanna, courted fresh controversy on Friday by openly abusing villagers of Maddur taluk for demanding basic amenities after voting against the coalition candidate for Mandya in the Lok Sabha poll .
"Without voting for our party candidate, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy who contested as a Janata Dal (Secular) candidate in Mandya, how can you demand facilities for your village? Shame on you," he told a group of villagers during a function to perform a bhumi pooja for a drinking water scheme. A video of Mr Thammanna abusing the villagers in Devarhalli village, Maddur taluk, has gone viral and is attracting widespread condemnation. It shows the minister, who was in the village to kickstart the drinking water scheme, heaping abuse on a group of villagers, who asked him for a pucca road to a burial ground and the construction of a temple in their midst.. "Shame on you for supporting Ms Sumalatha Ambareesh. Why are you coming to me now? You go and ask for this from the person you voted for. You took all help from me and voted for her," he is heard telling the villagers.
Taking strong objection to his remarks, Ms Sumalatha Ambareesh said she did not expect a minister to talk in this manner to voters. "The voters are the masters in a democracy and they have the right to either accept or reject any candidate. I expected co-operation from all JD(S) legislators for the overall development of Mandya district, but I am shocked and surprised at the manner in which the minister has behaved with the people of his constituency," she added.
This is not the first time Mr Thammanna has invited trouble. After Ms Sumalatha Ambareesh decided to contest from Mandya as an independent, the minister had said she had not offered even a cup of water to those who went to meet her late husband, M H Ambareesh when he was housing minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet.
