CM Siddaramaiah slams Union Minister Hegde on Tipu Jayanti celebration

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines after receiving salute at the Police Commemoration Day parade, he said it was not proper on the part of a Union Minister to give such statements.

"Tipu Jayanti is celebrated as a State function across the State and as a matter of protocol Union Minister's names are printed in the Invitation cards. It is left to Mr Hegde to attend the function or keep away from it. But it is unfair on his part to ask the government not to print his name," he said.

Mr Hegde, as the MP for Uttara Kannada, had last year also asked the Deputy Commissioner of that district not to include his name in the programme invitations.

The BJP in Karnataka has been opposing State-sponsored Tipu Jayanti celebrations. Violence had erupted around it in Kodagu in 2015, when the celebrations were first introduced as a State event.

In a letter to the Chief Secretary, Mr Hegde's personal Secretary said it was being written on the direction of the Minister.

A strong propanent of pro-Hindu sentiments, Mr Hegde had earlier condemned the State government celebrating Tipu Jayanti despite stiff opposition from a section of the people. Tipu, he had claimed, was 'against Kannada language and was anti-Hindu'.