Karnataka Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah on Thursday said it was his right to eat beef and dared anyone to question him about it, reported the Hindustan Times. He said, "Till date, I have never eaten cow meat. But if it suits my palette and if I want to eat beef, I will eat it. Nobody can stop me." The statement was reportedly targeted at Hindu right-wing parties which have been campaigning for a complete ban on cow slaughter.

Siddaramaiah said that the killings of a man in Dadri for eating cow meat, writer MM Kalburgi, Communist Party of India member Govind Pansare, rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and the three Dalit children in Haryana "have thoroughly exposed the communal and casteist agenda" of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

The Congress leader cited Kalburgi's name even though the writer was shot dead in his own state. The BJP-led central government has maintained that all the incidents are the state law enforcement’s fault and has nothing to do with the Centre.

In a separate development, the Haryana government sacked the editor of a monthly magazine of its education department, after an article published in it listed beef as an important enhancer that “directly affects absorption of iron” by the human body, reported The Indian Express.