Youth Congress leader Mohammed Nalapad has landed in yet another controversy after a party colleague accused him of physical assault. Siddu Gowda, a youth Congress worker, reportedly posted a message on the Congress internal WhatsApp group accusing Nalapad of attacking him, his younger brothers and his driver at a get-together hosted at a five star hotel in Bengaluru. While Siddu Gowda has now gone incommunicado, Nalapad has refuted the charges and claimed that it is a conspiracy to tarnish him.
In the alleged message posted on the Congress internal group, Gowda supposedly said that Nalapad was upset with him for supporting another Congress leader. Gowda also alleged that there was a threat to his life from Nalapad. Photographs of Gowda with minor bruises on his lip and hands are also being circulated. TNM could not ascertain when the photographs were clicked. The party where the attack allegedly took place was reportedly hosted by Nalapad to seek everyone’s support ahead of his swearing-in as the Youth Congress Karnataka President, slated for January 31, 2022.
Meanwhile, a video of Gowda has now surfaced in which he denied that he was attacked and said that he learnt of the alleged assault through video reports. He alleged that this was a conspiracy by the BJP and appealed to the media not to give coverage to the episode.
Speaking to Kannada news channels, Nalapad said that Siddu Gowda was not present at the lunch he had hosted and claimed that this was a conspiracy against him by his political rivals.
Karnataka Congress working president Eshwar Khandre too denied the incident. Speaking to reporters, Khandre said there has been no complaint filed so there is no question of a probe.
TNM tried reaching both Gowda and Nalapad but received no response from either of them.
In March 2020, Sachin Gowda, a Congress party worker had filed a complaint against Nalapad and his gunman, accusing them of assaulting him during a debate program organised by the Youth Congress. In February 2018, Nalapad, who was then the Youth Congress general secretary, was booked for assaulting a student at a pub in Central Bengaluru. The complainant had accused Nalapad and 10 others of assaulting him after an argument broke out between the two at the pub and again attacking him when he was receiving medical treatment at Mallya Hospital. Video footage of the incident had gone viral and Nalapad was suspended from the Congress party for six years.
Nalapad is the son of Shanthinagar MLA NA Haris and is scheduled to take over as the president of Karnataka Youth Congress.