What Zameer said was wrong: Karnataka Deputy CM D K Shivakumar on 'kariya' row

Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress president D K Shivakumar on Saturday publicly censured his Cabinet colleague B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan for his 'racist' comments on Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

"I'm saying this as the party president...what (Zameer) said was wrong. We've talked to him internally, and he has apologised," Shivakumar told reporters.

Shivakumar said this while demur is brewing within Congress towards Zameer, especially after the Waqf controversy and his comments against Kumaraswamy during the high-stakes Channapatna bypoll. Zameer is the minister for housing, Waqf and minority welfare.

During the Channapatna campaign, Zameer said the Muslim community had enough strength to raise funds to “buy” Kumaraswamy’s family. He also repeatedly addressed Kumaraswamy as “kaala” and “kaalia”, referring to the JD(S) leader's dark skin. Zameer later offered to apologise for his “kaalia” slur, but not before saying he used it on Kumaraswamy out of affection.

"He shouldn't have said that," Shivakumar said. "Black and white...it's wrong. Even about wealth, one shouldn't speak like that. Whether he spoke (about skin colour) out of affection or not, what he said was wrong. I'm on record," he said.

On Friday, Karnataka Congress vice-president A R M Hussain urged Shivakumar to initiate disciplinary action against Zameer for courting controversies.