BJP MLA Aravind Bellad and CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru: CM Siddaramaiah stated that BJP MLA Aravind Bellad had apologized for using abusive words and he warmly welcomed the move. He took to X to express his gladness for a rare political gesture, on Tuesday.
“Criticism [and] disagreements are common in politics. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, a statement that insults another person’s dignity comes and goes without [us] realizing it. Deputy Leader of Opposition Arvind Bellad levelled a personal abuse at me while speaking against our government’s decision to grant land to the Jindal Company. Realizing his mistake, he apologized through a letter. I welcome this move of his with the utmost openness, and hereby convey that I have neither hatred nor resentment in my heart towards him”, Siddaramaiah wrote in the post.
The CM said that he too had done the same mistake of using ‘singular-terms’ against his opponents earlier, which he had regretted later. He had taken care that it didn’t happen again, he said. Despite being on the receiving end of personal abuse many times in his 40-year long political career, Siddaramaiah said that it was the first time that a politician had ever apologized on his own for making such comments. Through the written apology, Bellad “has showed the right way to a new generation of politicians”, he said.
Remembering his enduring friendship with the MLA’s father Chandrakanta Bellad, Siddaramaiah called him a gentleman politician. “May Arvind continue his legacy of gentlemanliness”, he added.
Siddaramaiah said that when politics had become only criticisms, accusations and counter-accusations during these days, Arvind Bellad’s actions symbolized the existence of an honourable way of doing things. “The saying ‘there is no greater atonement than repentance’ makes more sense in this context”, he added.
