Nothing seems to be going right for Karnataka Chief Minister S Siddaramaiah, who is getting into one controversy after another, some not even of his doing.

His own financial adviser and senior party MLA, Basavaraj Rayareddy, who had only recently got his boss Siddaramaiah embarrassed with ‘corruption’ charges against the government, is again the cause of another embarrassment, this time over Pahalgam and Pakistan.

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If Siddaramaiah got into trouble with his remark of “no need for war with Pakistan” and later had to backtrack, Rayareddy came out with an exactly contrasting and opposite statement that “Pakistan should be bombed out now.”

Reacting to the Pahalgam terror attack, the senior Congress leader remarked, “Why can’t we start attacking Pakistan immediately? Why not start a war tomorrow? Who is stopping us?”

Continuing in the same vein, Rayareddy said that the source of terrorists’ entry must be plugged. “And why has the central government not started doing this yet?” he questioned and reasoned that if the terrorists are entering from PoK, these spots must be attacked to stop the intrusion.

“Bomb the places where terrorists are hiding and eliminate them mercilessly. Why hasn’t the central government acted yet? I demand that they act immediately. If you’re going to start, do it within a week,” Rayareddy said.

Coming a couple of days after Siddaramaiah’s ‘no to war’ comments, his financial adviser’s remarks stand in sharp contrast, indicating a clear confusion within Congress ranks.

Siddaramaiah had said that war should only be a nation’s last resort and never the first or only option. He had also charged the Centre with intelligence failure and demanded accountability for this lapse.

It may be recalled that Siddaramaiah faced heavy trolling for his remarks, with the BJP launching blistering attacks and asking him to go to Pakistan.