A Karnataka minister who is at the forefront of the state’s battle against Covid-19 has triggered controversy by tweeting a picture of himself swimming in a pool with his three young children.

“After a long time joined my children for swimming hope maintaining social distancing here also... haha,” medical education minister K. Sudhakar wrote.

Sudhakar, joint leader of the state government’s anti-coronavirus team along with health minister B. Sriramulu, later deleted the tweet.

But the state Congress on Monday demanded his resignation, accusing him of “behaving irresponsibly” and questioning the “ethics” of a minister publicly enjoying himself during a crisis.

The picture suggests it’s an artificial swimming pool, not a natural water body. Its location remains unclear since all public pools and gyms had been ordered closed during the lockdown. The minister’s official residence has no swimming pool.

A medical doctor, Sudhakar is a former Congress lawmaker and one of the 17 defectors whose resignation allowed the BJP to topple the Janata Dal Secular-Congress coalition government last July.

He has been rewarded with the plum medical education portfolio, which fits his qualifications.

State Congress president D.K. Shivakumar asked that Sudhakar resign or be removed.

“When the whole world is going through a health crisis, the Corona in-charge minister Dr Sudhakar is behaving irresponsibly by spending time in a swimming pool,” Shivakumar tweeted, attaching a screenshot of Sudhakar’s now-deleted tweet.

“It’s a matter of moral & ethical standards. He must resign out of his own accord (or) CM should sack him from the cabinet.”