Congress general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh, M. Veerappa Moily, on Wednesday said that the party high command would take appropriate action against the Congress MP from Nagarkurnool (SC), Manda Jagannath, for allegedly slapping a bank manager at Uppunuthala in Mahbubnagar district of the State on Monday.

Talking to media after receiving a report from Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president D. Srinivas, Mr. Moily said the incident was “most unfortunate” and he did not think that a member of Parliament could indulge in such an act.

The Union Law Minister replied in the negative when asked about reports that he had summoned the MP to Delhi to give a personal explanation. He also refused to give details of the report.

AICC spokesman Manish Tewari said the incident was “regrettable and unfortunate.” There were in-house mechanisms to deal with the incident after getting a report. He refused to speculate on what action would be taken against the MP. “Prima facie it appeared [on tape] that what was shown perhaps happened,” he said.

The MP, who switched over to the Congress from the Telugu Desam Party a few days before the UPA government’s confidence vote last year, had also served as the special representative of the Andhra Pradesh government here