A day after Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das suspended a government official for walking past him on the podium mid-speech, a video has now emerged showing a former Congress minister placing his own slippers at party vice-president Rahul Gandhi's feet to help him wade through a water-logged area.
As Gandhi toured flood-hit Puducherry on Tuesday, 68-year-old V Narayanasamy, Congress lawmaker and once a union minister attached to the Prime Minister's Office, held a pair of slippers for the 45-year-old Gandhi who took off his own shoes to walk through a flooded area.
Tamil Nadu: Former MoS PMO Narayanasamy defends @OfficeOfRG, 'was merely holding the slippers'. pic.twitter.com/qqNQ2XTjQj
— NewsX (@NewsX) December 9, 2015
However, Narayanswamy told reporters that he had merely offered his own shoes. "As a courtesy I offered my chappals as Mr Rahul Gandhi removed his shoes to walk barefoot in the water," said Narayanasamy.
"Rahul carried his shoes throughout and he didn't even let his security personnel carry them for him," he said.
Later, however, contradicting his remarks, Narayanswamy said that he was proud of what he had done.
"I thought it was my responsibility that he (Rahul) has come to my state and should not get any injury. I am proud of it," Narayanasamy told Times Now.
Contact HuffPost India
Also see on HuffPost:
