Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy embroiled in a controversy after a purported video, showing him ordering a police official to "shoot mercilessly" those who killed a JD(S) worker in Mandya, went viral. With the chief minister drawing flak over his response, he said "it was an emotional outburst" and he did not mean it.

The opposition BJP lashed out at Kumaraswamy over the issue and termed it "irresponsible and nonsense". JD(S) worker H Prakash (50) was allegedly hacked to death by four men in Maddur town of Mandya district Monday evening, police said. The assailants stopped Prakash's car when he was going home and hacked him to death with machetes.