BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Monday called his son Akash a “kachcha khiladi” (novice player), dismissing the younger man’s cricket-bat assault on a civic official last week as a minor misdemeanour blown out of proportion.

Vijayvargiya, the BJP’s Bengal minder, used the same expression for the assaulted official, saying both were inexperienced.

The comments came a day after Akash Vijayvargiya, 34, a BJP MLA from Indore, walked out on bail after four days in judicial custody.

“There was mishandling from both sides. Both Akashji and the municipal commissioner are novice players. It was not a big issue but was blown out of proportion,” Vijayvargiya said.

He also sought to point a finger at the assaulted man, saying officials shouldn’t show “ahankar” (arrogance) while dealing with elected representatives.

Akash was all over national television and social media last Wednesday chasing, abusing and assaulting with a cricket bat Dhirendra Singh Bais, the Indore municipal corporation official who was on an anti-encroachment drive.

The first-time MLA got a rousing welcome as he stepped out of prison on Sunday. One supporter even fired in the air outside the BJP’s office in the city to welcome the legislator.

Akash, who remains unrepentant, justified his thrashing of the civic official saying it was in “public interest”. Had he not rushed to the spot and chased away the civic officials, he claimed, the dignity of a woman would have been endangered.

He said the civic authorities were misbehaving with the woman while trying to forcibly evict her. “I pray to god that he should not give me another opportunity to bat,” Akash had said after his release.

Vijayvargiya too had the image of a leader not averse to using strong-arm methods. The 63-year-old, who has risen through the ranks in the BJP and its ideological mentor RSS, had assaulted officials as a young man.

A former mayor of Indore and six-term MLA, Vijayvargiya had shifted to national politics in 2014 after Amit Shah took over as the BJP’s national chief. He now wants to transfer his legacy to his son Akash, who was given a party ticket and elected to the Assembly last year.

Vijayvargiya is known to be close to Shah, now the Union home minister, and BJP insiders said it was his proximity to the powerful central leader that had restrained the party from taking action against his son. Party leaders said a report has been sought from the MLA but any action was unlikely.

No action has so far been taken against newly elected BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur for calling Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse a patriot.

Shah had promised action against Pragya after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he would never be able to pardon the saffron-robed MP for her comment. Shah had said the party’s disciplinary committee had been asked to serve a showcause notice on Pragya. It was later found that the disciplinary committee was defunct.