Bharatiya Janata Party National President Amit Shah wanted his party’s youth wing in Karnataka to hold aggressive protests and ensure tear gas shelling and baton-charging, party MP Pratap Simha appears to have claimed in a video clip that went viral on Monday.

Simha, however, dismissed the video as a “cut-and-paste job”, while addressing the press a day after he was briefly detained in Mysuru on Sunday, The Hindu reported.

In the 37-second video clip being shared on social media, Simha is seen telling BJP Yuva Morcha members about his purported conversation with Shah. He claimed to have assured Shah of aggressive protests. The clip appears to be part of a 27-minute Facebook Live video on Simha’s page on November 30.

Responding to the video on Twitter, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah accused the Mysuru MP of taking Shah’s advice and “trying to create communal disturbance” during a Hanuman Jayanti procession on Sunday.

State BJP President BS Yeddyurappa claimed Simha had misunderstood Shah’s directions, The New Indian Express reported. “He only directed party members to take up public issues strongly and stage protests,” Yeddyurappa said.

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Protests against Simha’s arrest

Meanwhile, the BJP’s Yuva Morcha staged protests in parts of Karnataka on Monday against Simha’s detention a day before. The MP was briefly detained for forcing his way through a police barricade during Hanuman Jayanti processions. He was released the same day.

Simha, who heads the BJP’s Yuva Morcha in Karnataka, had opposed the restrictions put in place for the festival, saying there were no restrictions on the Milad-un-Nabi celebrations on Saturday.