‘I did not intend to insult CM Bommai,’ says Karnataka LoP Siddaramaiah

Hubbali (Karnataka) [India], January 7 (ANI): Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah clarified his "puppy" remark on Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and other party leaders and said that his "statement in rural language" has been misunderstood and he did not intend to insult the Chief Minister.
"You have misunderstood it [his statement], in rural language, we call the ones who don't have the guts to speak as dog or cat. I did not intend to insult Chief Minister. I did not call him a puppy. I said that they must have the courage to speak in front of national leaders. For the betterment of the state, they must talk to the Union leaders boldly. They should be brave, and should not act like a puppy," Siddaramaiah said addressing the media persons at Hubbali airport on Friday.
He further asked "They call me Tagaru [sheep] and Huliya [Tiger like], is it also an insult? Comparison with animals and trees is a very common practice in rural areas here, is that an insult to him?" he added
Siddaramaiah stoked a controversy on Tuesday after he remarked that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and other BJP leaders shiver like "puppy" in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Basavaraj Bommai, you are all like puppies in front of Narendra Modi. You all shiver in front of him. There was an interim recommendation to give Rs 5495 crore to Karnataka state as a special allowance in the 15th Pay Commission. But our finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman wrote that she could not give such amount," Siddaramaiah said.
Further talking about the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the LoP said that he never opposed its construction but its idea for political gains.
"Have we ever opposed the construction of Ram Mandir? We only objected to the use of politics for the same, we oppose politics between two communities. We have no objection to the construction of the Ram Mandir, even we have built several Ram and Hanuman temples in our villages. Don't do this as a political issue," Siddaramaiah mentioned.
He further said that being a Hindu he can never turn Anti Hindu but opposes Hindutva.
"When I myself a Hindu, how can I turn anti-Hindu? I am Hindu and I oppose Hindutva. I am against politics in the name of Hindutva. It is mentioned in the Constitution that all religions are equal, so I only say to not do politics in the name of religion," he said underscoring that the country belongs to all the people here and the Constitution asks to treat everyone as equal human beings. (ANI)