M Jagannath, the Congress MP from Nagarkurnool in Andhra Pradesh, is in the eye of a storm after footage aired by a news channel showed him slapping a bank manager in Mahabubnagar district for not releasing loans to SC/ST beneficiaries.

Jagannath attended a meeting of Uppununtala mandal officials and public representatives on Monday in which he was told that Ravinder Reddy, manager of the local branch of Andhra Pradesh Grameen Vikas Bank, was not releasing the loan amounts to SC/ST beneficiaries, official sources said.

Reddy did not give a satisfactory reply when Jagannath sought an explanation over phone following which the latter went to the bank, they said.

In the scuffle that followed, Jagannath allegedly slapped Reddy. The footage showed Jagannath slapping the bank manager more than once.

“Can he speak to me in the language which he did. He was heavily drunk. If he was taken to the hospital, it would have been proved,” the MP said.

The bank manager, meanwhile, said Jagannath’s behaviour was not befitting to his position and that he would consult the bank employees’ union on his next course of action. pti