2 Jul 2009, 1321 hrs IST

NEW DELHI, India: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has summoned the party MP from Nagarkurnool, M Jagannath, who is in the eye of a storm after he was caught on camera slapping a rural bank manager in Andhra Pradesh.

According to reports, Congress chief has demanded an explanation from the disgraced MP; the party leadership has already ordered an inquiry into the matter.

Also, All India Congress Committee in-charge for Andhra Pradesh, Veerappa Moily has asked the state Congress committee to explain the MPs conduct.

Describing the incident as regrettable and unfortunate, Congress party spokesman Manish Tiwari said there are in-house mechanisms to deal with the incident after a report is submitted but refused to speculate what action could be taken against the MP.

Meanwhile, a criminal case has been registered by the police against the MP after the employees of the grameen banks in the Congress-ruled state protested against the high-handedness of Jagannath.

Employees have launched protests in several districts and have stopped disbursal of loans under government schemes.

The staff at the Uppununthala branch bank branch, where the incident happened, have in fact threatened to go on strike from today.

However, the MP has been claiming that he has not slapped the bank manager, but only put his hand on the man, for not releasing loans to SC/ST beneficiaries.

"The incident was an accident and that he didn't really slap the man," said Jagannath.

It is believed that the MP had sought an explanation from the bank manager over the phone after which he went to the bank. A heated exchange followed after which the MP slapped the manager.

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