Mr. Kovind was speaking on the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

At a time when the BJP is up in arms against the Karnataka Government on 'Tipu Jayanthi' celebration, President Ram Nath Kovind’s reference to Tipu Sultan in an address to the joint session of the State legislature on Wednesday came as a morale booster to the Congress government.

Speaking on the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, the President said: “Tipu Sultan died a heroic death fighting the British. He was also a pioneer in development and use of Mysuru rockets in warfare. This technology was later adopted by Europeans.”

As soon as the President read this out, the entire ruling party members expressed their joy by thumping the desks, while there was pin drop silence on the Opposition side.

“More recently, two of our finest army chiefs – Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa and General K.S. Thimayya – were sons of Karnataka,” he pointed out.

Continuing, the President said: “Karnataka is a land of formidable soldiers. Krishnadeva Raya was the greatest ruler of the Vijayanagara empire and remains an inspiration for all Indians. Kempe Gowda was the founder of Bengaluru. Rani Chennamma of Kittur and Rani Abbakka led among the earliest battles against colonial powers.”`

CM's praise tweet

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in a tweet, congratulated Mr. Kovind. “Congratulations to Hon. President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind for a statesman like address to the Karnataka legislature,” the tweet said.