A day after he sparked fresh controversy for his racist comments on Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Karnataka Cabinet Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan has apologized.

The Congress leader said he was sorry that his remarks about the Union Steel Minister hurt anyone’s sentiments.

Addressing the media in Mysuru, Khan said everyone knows that Kumaraswamy and him “are close friends”. He admitted that it was not the first time that he called Kumaraswamy ‘kala’ or ‘kaliya’ (black), and clarified that they have been insulting each other out of affection since the early days of their political careers.

“He used to call me short and I used to call him black. When we were very close, he used to make fun of me for being short and I used to make fun of him for being black. I will apologize if my words have hurt anyone. If this has hurt anyone, I will apologize. Why will this declaration affect the elections? This is not the first time I have said this,” Khan said.

Khan had made a derogatory comment on Sunday: commenting on Kumaraswamy’s skin colorduring a campaign in Channapatna. While explaining CP Yogeshwar’s ‘ghar wapsi’ to the Congress, Khan had said that Yogeshwar originally left the Congress due to personal differences, joined the BSP and then joined the BJP because he had no other option.

“With no other option, he joined the BJP because he did not want to join the Janata Dal (Secular). I didn’t want to go with JD(S) because I felt ‘kaliya’ (HD) Kumaraswamy is more dangerous than the BJP,” Khan had said.

Yogeshwar is the Congress candidate for the Channapatna assembly seat, contesting against Nikhil Kumaraswamy of JD(S).

As Khan admitted, Sunday was not the first time he made comments about Kumaraswamy’s skin color. Three years ago, the minister had said in Bidar: “I am short and God made me short. God made it dark and therefore kala (black). If I call a righteous person black, then it is wrong. Black will just be black, right?”