Bengaluru: The Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment A Narayanaswamy on Thursday walked into jawan Ravikumar Kattimani’s house and offered heartfelt condolences to his family, including his wife, over his martyrdom.
Kattimani’s family was aghast as they had not heard of his martyrdom. As they broke down, the minister consoled them and offered land and a government job to the soldier’s ‘widow.’
As the minister was consoling the family, a local BJP worker made a video call to the soldier and heard the ‘dead’ man speaking. On connecting with Ravikumar, he requested the minister to speak to the soldier. Realising the faux pas, the minister tried to control the damage by praising the soldier’s bravery. He also felicitated the family members before hurriedly leaving their home.
As per the itinerary, the minister was to visit the residence of a martyred soldier at Mulgund in Gadag district. But local BJP workers guided Narayanaswamy to the house of serving soldier Kattimani three streets away.
After leaving the soldier’s residence, the ministers reportedly took the local BJP leaders to task. Sources said local BJP leaders provided wrong information to the minister.
According to the tour programme, the minister was scheduled to offer condolences to the family of Basavaraj Hiremath, who died in the line of duty in Pune, Maharashtra, more than one and a half years ago.
The minister's visit was part of BJP’s highly publicised Jan Ashirwad Yatra. The yatra is to welcome new Union ministers from the state, but it has been in the news for wrong reasons. The BJP workers threw Covid protocols to the wind and recently four party workers were arrested over celebratory firing during Bhagawanth Khuba’s first visit to Yadgir town after becoming the Union minister.
