"The young man who is said to have been slapped by me is my 27-year-old relative Dinesh who was shouting slogans at the peak of his voice in my support when the CLP meeting was on at Bijapur Guest House yeserday.
"The slap was actually an elderly pat on his cheek asking him to keep quiet when a party meeting was underway," Rawat said when asked whether he would apologise for what he had done.
He said the man in question is his nephew who hails from his village.