Days after his image of urinating on a wall near the poster of chief Rajasthan minister Vasundhara Raje went viral, politician Shambhu Singh Khetasar has tried very hard to get his side of the story out.
Initially, Khetasar, who’s the Chairman of Rajasthan Seeds Corporation, had claimed that there’s nothing wrong with urinating in the open as long as it’s done in a secluded area. He said defecating in public caused diseases.
Facing the heat on social media, his next explanation was more frivolous. Khetasar claimed that urinals were kilometres away and the act[urinating in public] was ‘old age tradition’.
With critics not buying his theory, Khetasar has now dragged opposition into his urine matter. He has alleged a conspiracy from the opposition parties in making his urinating picture viral to “defame him.”
The viral image of Khetasar urinating near the poster of Rajasthan Chief Minister | Source: Twitter
According to a Times of India report, Khetasar acknowledged that he was the one urinating on the wall in the viral picture. However, he maintained that the poster of Rajasthan CM was not there and may have been “manipulated or photo-shopped.”
Attending a rally in Ajmer on October 7, Khetasar was pictured urinating by an anonymous photographer. The rally, which was addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had enough public convenience facilities in place, organizers told reporters following the controversy.
But it seems, only Khetasar was unable to find one.
“I have some problem which cannot allow me to hold urine for long,” Khetasar told TOI. He also asked the TOI reporter what options does one have when faced with such a situation?
Surprisingly, Rajasthan government in March had announced that it has met the target of Open Defecation Free (ODF) targets in 27 out of 33 districts of the state. However, multiple reports following that announcement punctured government’s claims.
In July this year, Hindustan Times reported that Rajasthan’s Barmer district, announced as one of the open defecation-free districts, has no toilets for 43,054 families.
