Karnataka government clarified it was not responsible since the ads were released by agencies contracted for the event in Malaysia.

In a major faux pas, an advertisement released by the Karnataka government in a Malaysian newspaper showed a distorted map of India with a significant part of Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East missing from it, an allegation that India has generally reserved for China.

The opposition BJP, which pointed out the mistake, called it a major lapse by the Congress government and asking the state tourism department to explain. The government, however, washed its hands off the controversy, saying it was not responsible since the ads were released by agencies contracted for the event in Malaysia.

Karnataka Tourism Minister RV Deshpande told India Today TV, "The ad was not released by the state government. It was released by a Singapore-based company which was given the responsibility for the publicity of the event in Malaysia."