Gangavati: Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilizers D V Sadanand Gowda, who had drew flak for allegedly calling orator and thinker Chakravarti Sulibele a “Deshdrohi” (anti-national), has clarified that the term was not meant for the latter.

Speaking to the media, DVS explained, “I did not mean to term Sulibele an anti-national, but the ones spreading fake news on the flood relief issue. If someone feels that I’ve hurt them, I apologize.”

“I was terribly hurt by the statements that the 25 parliamentarians from the state had not put in efforts to get the Centre to sanction the necessary funds for flood relief. The Centre has released Rs 1200 crores now, and will be releasing more in the coming days,” he added.

Meanwhile, on the matter of the two-month delay in the sanctioning of the relief funds, he said, “The funds are being released after two months because, till the rain stops completely in the state, there is no point in releasing the funds as it will not be effective enough for the relief works. Hence, anyone who wants to make comments about the MPs and the delay in release of the relief funds, must take all these things into consideration and understand the logic behind it and then speak.”

It can be recalled that Chakravarti Sulibele, on Twitter, had criticized DVS on his ‘misguiding tweet’ and said that the people of Karnataka are not misguiding anyone, but it is the failure of the 25 MPs who did not respond swiftly to the flood relief. Sulibele had also told DVS, through Twitter, that it is because of the votes of the people that he is in a top position.

Angered by the comments, DVS had said that it is not enough for someone to just make speeches and gain attention. He then termed people making negative comments about the MPs in connection to the flood relief work as anti nationals.