Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has once again courted controversy after making a statement that he was "scared of people who sport long kumkum or ash tikas".
The Senior Congress leader made the statement while addressing an event to inaugurate a lake rejuvenation programme in Badami, a video of which has gone viral.
In the video, after the contractor of the rejuvenation work is pointed out to him in the crowd, Siddaramaiah is heard saying, "You are wearing kumkum, will you do the work properly? I am scared of people who sport such tilaks. You have to do the work properly and finish it on time. I have a fear of people who sport long tikas on their foreheads."
The statement drew widespread criticism on social media with #SelfieWithTilak trending on Twitter. Netizens and several BJP leaders took to Twitter to call out Siddaramaiah for his comments and shared photos of themselves sporting tilaks.
Here are a few responses to the comment.
Some even shared photos of Siddaramaiah and Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi sporting long tilaks in response to the comment.
Not new to controversy, Siddaramaiah in January drew flak for his behaviour while interacting with Jamalar, a former vice-president of T Narsipur Taluk Panchayat, during a public function at Gargeshwari village, under Varuna Assembly constituency.
Siddaramaiah got restless when Jamalar accused the officials of not responding to the people’s problems. He burst out in anger and snatched the microphone from her hand and told her to shut up and sit down when she complained that Siddaramaiah had come to the village after a long time and that his son and local MLA Dr Yathindra was also not available to the common people.
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