In a major embarrassment to the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara had to skip the Tipu Jayanti celebration on Saturday because of confusion over the event’s timing.

This added to the blushes caused by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy staying away from the event “on the advice of doctors” and not a single leader from the JD(S), the Congress coalition partner, turning up at the banquet hall of the Vidhana Soudha. The venue was turned into a fortress under heavy police protection. Also, several Congress leaders whose names were on the invitation did not turn up.

Parameshwara was to inaugurate the celebration. “Parameshwara called me up late Friday night and expressed shock that the event was scheduled at 11.30 am. He thought the event was at 6.30 pm,” Minority Welfare Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan said at the event, requesting the audience not to “misunderstand” Parameshwara’s absence. Believing that the event was in the evening, Khan said Parameshwara booked tickets to fly to Singapore to visit an ailing former minister C Chennigappa.