Union Minister Antkumar Hegde, a Bharatiya Jata Party (BJP) leader, has called Tipu a “brutal killer, wretched fatic and mass rapist”, ahead of the state’s Tipu Jayanti celebrations to mark his birth anniversary on November 10. Hegde also asked the state government to drop his me from the official invites to the function. However, the President’s remarks in praise of Tipu Sultan did not go down well with the BJP. The ruling Congress party had “forced” the President to speak on Tipu, alleged senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of the state K.S. Eshwarappa. “The speech was a deliberate attempt by the Congress party to make the President praise Tipu Sultan,” Eshwarappa told reporters after the joint session.