Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Friday explained Congress MP DK Suresh’s ‘separate country’ statement and said there is no need to misunderstand DK Suresh’s North-South statement as what he said was in anger and he did not mean to ‘divide India’. Nirmala Sitharaman has done injustice as finance minister and Karnataka has been treated unfairly in the Union budget, Karnataka CM said.

Suresh’s remark on Budget that depriving the southern states would lead them to demand a separate country triggered a massive political storm as the statement was referred to in Parliament. Congress chief and Rajya Sabha leader Mallikarjun Kharge denounced the comment and said if someone speaks about breaking the country, the party will not tolerate it.

“Whether someone says or not, I, Mallikarjun Kharge, will state that India is one from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and will remain one,” Kharge said.

Who is DK Suresh? What controversy has he created?

DK Suresh is a Lok Sabha MP from Bangalore Rural. He is also the brother of Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar. The interim Budget did not satisfy him and a north-south war was waged once again — in his comment.

“Our tax money is being distributed to north India, if we do not condemn it, there might arise a situation where we will have to demand for a separate nation,” DK Suresh said.

Pralhad Joshi, Piyush Goyal referred to the issue in Parliament condemning the statement leading to a stalemate as the Congress MPs walked out of the Lok Sabha. Shashi Tharoor said there was no reason to bring up the statement as it was not spoken inside Parliament and the BJP leaders only relied on media reports.

Ravi Shankar Prasad addressed a press meet and said DK Suresh has no right to remain an MP after what he said. “He (D K Suresh) has committed a gross impropriety as an MP by openly talking breaking up India. It is a clear violation of the constitution’s main point of unity and integrity,” he said.

DK Shivakumar played down his brother’s comments and said Suresh only spoke of the pain of South India. “There has to be a balance. The entire country is one… You cannot only look at the Hindi belt… In this budget, there is no equal distribution of finances… Karnataka has been giving a lot of revenue to the Centre… For the entire South India, no major announcement has been made… We feel like we have been let down. But the entire country is one. We are Indians. India should be united. There is no question of demanding anything region-wise” DK Shivakumar said.