In an unexpected gesture of affection, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah was kissed by a woman taluk panchayat member at a public event in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Tarikere taluk panchayat member Girija Srinivas, who was at the event organised by Kuruba organisation to felicitate the newly elected members of zilla and taluk panchayats, came up on the dias and kissed the CM on his cheek, reported The Times of India.
Watch video here
After Kannada media started playing the video on loop and demanded to know the woman's identity, the CM issued a clarification.
One does not know for sure whether it embarrassed the CM or not, but in a note of clarification he said that the girl (Girija) was like his daughter and that it was an affectionate peck.
Calling him a paternal figure, Girija said that she could not control her excitement of sharing the dias with the CM.
Girija reportedly was from the CM’s Varuna constituency in Mysuru district before marriage. She was elected to the taluk panchayat in Chikkamagalur for the first time in the December 2015 polls on a Congress ticket.
“I was overjoyed by the fact that I was standing next to him. My family and I have always called him “Appaji”(father),”she said. “The kiss was not preplanned,” she clarified.