The former Minister M.B. Patil has said he will apologise to D.K. Shivakumar, former Minister, for criticising him over the phone-tapping issue, and added that he spoke without verifying facts. Addressing presspersons here on Saturday, Mr. Patil said that Mr. Shivakumar had spoken out against the former Home Minister and BJP leader R. Ashok on the issue. “I did not hear the statement of Mr. Shivakumar. But when some television channels told me that he had blamed me for playing politics over the issue, I criticised him. But later I realised that it was a mistake on my part because I had not checked facts. In the video, he mentioned Mr. Ashok who is also a former Home Minister. I will call up Mr. Shivakumar and extend my apology,” he said.
Mr. Patil criticised certain media houses for not airing the truth and said they should not present false news. Stating that it was not easy for any political party to simply tap the phones of persons, he said that as Home Minister he had never ordered such a thing. “I don’t believe in infringing upon the personal lives of people. I have not done it and the officials I spoke to also told me that no phones were tapped,” he said. At the same time, he demanded an enquiry into the incident to bring out the truth.