Bengaluru: Cornered by party colleagues for sharing the dais with RSS functionary, Chakravarthi Sulibele, while unveiling a bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday owned up his mistake saying the state government ought to have organized the event.
Speaking at an event at KPCC office here, Mr. Siddaramaiah was apologetic after former Union minister M. Veerappa Moily pointed out that the CM should have skipped the function and disallowed a RSS functionary from delivering a lecture on Mr. Gandhi.
Mr Siddaramaiah said: "I don't know the background of Chakravarthi Sulibele. Mr. Shankaramurthy (Chairman of the Council) is a RSS man, and he had invited another RSS man to deliver a lecture on Gandhi.
As a matter of courtesy, I decided to attend the programme. It was a mistake on my part to attend that programme. Persons (Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse who had links with RSS) who killed the Mahatma delivering a special lecture on him is nothing but an irony. It should not have happened. If I was alerted about the background of Sulibele, I could have skipped that programme. After I reached the venue, someone told me Chakravarthi is a communal person, and is president of Namo Brigade in Karnataka."
The CM expressed his displeasure over Mr. Shankaramurthy's decision to organise the ceremony. "The government should have organised the programme of unveiling the state of Mahatma Gandhi. It is a mistake on our part that the state government did not organise the function," he added.
