MP Minister in soup over 'pat on back'

 Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Babulal Gaur on Friday found himself in the eye of a storm after he was caught on camera touching a woman “inappropriately”.

The minister claimed “there is no truth in the clipping” and that he was directing women BJP workers to board a bus.

The purported video clip of the incident, which went viral on social media and was flashed on TV news channels, showed the veteran politician hitting the woman on her back.

The 85-year-old former Madhya Pradesh chief minister was to flag off a bus in Barkheda Nathu area when the incident occurred.

“I only directed women workers to board the bus quickly as it was meant for them only. There is no truth in the clip as shown. Whatever I am saying is true,” Gaur told PTI.

On a few earlier occasions too, Gaur, a 10-time MLA from Govindpura seat in Bhopal, had sparked off controversies with his off-the-cuff remarks, often embarrassing his party.

Last year, the octogenarian leader had made a controversial statement that drinking liquor is a “fundamental right” and that it is a “status symbol” too.

He had made the remarks while asserting that crime rate doesn’t go up because of alcohol consumption.

The veteran leader had once described rape as a social crime, saying “sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong”.