Bengaluru, Feb 16 (IANS): Reacting to the comments of Minister Dr. C.N. Ashwath Narayan to "finish him off", Karnataka Opposition leader Siddaramaiah said on Thursday that he (minister) should instead get a gun.

'Why do you (minister Ashwath Narayan) provoke. Instead, take a gun and come to me," said Siddaramaiah.

Siddaramaiah maintained that Minister Ashwath Narayan had given a call to the people "to finish me off like Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan. I am not surprised by his call to murder me. How can we expect love, empathy, sympathy and friendship from the leaders of the party which revered the person who killed Mahatma Gandhi," he said.

"If the state police have not taken action even as a minister of the state had given a public call for murder, it only shows that the rulers are not alive and the government is dead," Siddaramaiah stated.

He demanded that Minister Ashwath Narayan should be immediately dropped from the cabinet. "He had given a statement like a mentally-retarded person. If he is not sacked and arrested, it is as good as the BJP party agreeing that Minister Ashwath Narayan is indeed a mentally-retarded person," he attacked.

Minister Ashwath Narayan had issued the controversial statement during a public programme in Satanur of Mandya district. "Siddaramaiah will come to the place of Tipu Sultan (erstwhile ruler of Mysuru). Do you want Veer Savarkar or Tipu Sultan? You have to decide.

"You know what Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda (soldiers who fought Tipu Sultan) did to Tipu Sultan. Likewise he (Siddaramaiah) should be finished off." The statement had stirred a controversy in the state.

However, on Thursday, the minister sought to end the controversy surrounding his "finish him off" statement directed towards Opposition leader Siddaramaiah, by expressing regret.

Speaking to reporters, Narayan said that the statement was purely circumstantial. "Calling PM Modi a butcher. Addressing Karnataka CM in singulars is part of the culture of Siddaramaiah. I have uttered those words with the intention of giving a call to people to defeat the Congress party in elections. If I have caused pain to him, I regret it," he said.

Further, the Minister stated that his statement was made in the view of elections. The leaders of Congress party are glorifying Tipu Sultan. "The fight is ideological and political against the Congress. I am very much aware that we are not in the times of war," he said.

He further said, "Equating elections to a war.. it is said that we should win. I don't have personal enmity against Siddaramaiah. If he is pained by this, I regret it. One should note that my statement is twisted. I have not done anything to break society on the line of religion," he said.

The circumstantial statement in local dialect has been twisted by Siddaramaiah and used according to his convenience, he said.

Former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy also slammed the BJP. "The finish him off statement shows the culture of Minister Ashwath Narayan. BJP's ideology is different and thoughts are different," he said.