Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Mangalore, Jul 8: In what may come as an embarassment to the Congress party and to its government, district incharge minister Ramanath Rai has been caught on camera not only snoring on the dais during a programme, but what's worse, getting his personal assistant (PA) to hold his shoes and put them on his feet later.
Ramanath Rai was attending a private programme in Mangalore. The video was telecast first on Daijiworld 24x7 TV channel on Tuesday July 8.
During the programme, Rai who was on the dais was seen dozing off, now and then shaking himself awake and looking around, with a bored and somewhat confused expression on his drowsy face. Neverthelesss, he managed to address the gathering when called upon to do so.
But what was shocking was that while on the dais, he handed over his shoes to his PA who obediently took them away, and soon after the programme, the PA was seen bending down at the minister's feet helping him put them on.
Ramanath Rai's tendency to doze off at the most inopportune situations is nothing new. In fact, it had even become a matter of heated debate before the parliamentary elections, with BJP challenging the Congress to come up with even one Assembly session where Rai had not dozed off. Rai had refuted the charges.
However, getting the PA to take care of his shoes and even put them on his feet is not something expected of a minister, even if it happens to be a private programme. It almost seemed as if Rai was too sleepy to even take the trouble to put on his shoes himself!