Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief DK Shivakumar on Tuesday apologised for reciting the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s anthem in the state Assembly, reported The Indian Express.

“If anyone has been hurt, I feel sorry… I would like to seek (an) apology from all of them,” Shivakumar said. He claimed that he had recited the song to take a dig at Bharatiya Janata Party leader and state Leader of Opposition R Ashoka.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Shivakumar on Tuesday said that his loyalty to the Congress and the Gandhi family was beyond question, The News Minute reported. “I am a born Congressman, I will die as one,” he asserted.

On Thursday, during a debate on the stampede that took place outside Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium in June, Shivakumar recited a few lines from the RSS anthem Namaste Sada Vatsale Matrubhoome in reply to the BJP.

While BJP MLAs had welcomed the deputy chief minister’s act, Congress legislators had remained silent.

Shivakumar later clarified that he was not endorsing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh by singing its anthem.

“Some of my friends are taking a political leap, trying to misuse it and cause confusion among the public,” he added, according to The News Minute. “I don’t want to hurt their feelings. If anyone has been hurt, I am sorry about it.”

Shivakumar’s comments on Tuesday came after Congress MLC BK Hariprasad questioned whether the deputy chief minister was trying to impress someone by singing an anthem associated with the RSS, “an organisation banned thrice in independent India”.

Hariprasad said there would be no objection to Shivakumar reciting the prayer in his capacity as deputy chief minister, since “a government belongs to all, including the RSS,” but added, “If he said it as Congress president, then he will have to apologise,” The News Minute reported.

Home Minister G Parameshwara had earlier said the party’s high command would take a call on the matter if it believed Shivakumar’s actions were inappropriate.

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