Anant Kumar Hegde sends reply to BJP leadership, denies charges against him
Bengaluru, Feb 4: BJP MP Anant Kumar Hegde has written to the party leadership that he made no mention of Mahatma Gandhi in his speech, which has faced flak for its swipe at the Father of the Nation, and controversial remarks attributed to him are "incorrect".
BJP sources said Hegde sent a detailed reply to party president J P Nadda, and the party's disciplinary committee, which issued him a show-cause notice to him on Monday, is studying its content before deciding its next course of action.
Hegde has claimed he did not name Mahatma Gandhi nor did he insult him in his speech and news reports about his speech are "incorrect". He added he also did not use words like "nautanki" or "drama" to describe the freedom struggle led by Gandhi.
There is a view in the party that what the former Union minister said might be in bad taste but its content was distorted in some media reports, a senior BJP leader said.
Speaking in Kannada at an event in Bengaluru on Saturday to commemorate Veer Savarkar, an iconic Hindutva figure, Hegde said freedom fighters who did not sacrifice anything made the country believe that it attained independence through 'Upavasa Satyagraha', Gandhi's preferred mode of agitation by undertaking fast.
"Such people became 'Mahapurush (great person)," said Hegde, who is no stranger to controversies.
The Gandhi-led freedom struggle was an "adjustment" with the British, he said, suggesting that contribution of revolutionaries and other freedom fighters who were not associated with the Congress were undermined.
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Karnataka government employees demand return of Old Pension Scheme
Bengaluru: Government employees in Karnataka have urged the state government to scrap the New Pension Scheme (NPS) and bring back the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), The New Indian Express reported.
The demand was made by the Karnataka State Government Employees’ Association, whose leaders met senior IAS officer Uma Mahadevan on Monday and submitted a memorandum. The association asked the NPS Review Committee, headed by senior IAS officer Anjum Parvez, to recommend the reintroduction of OPS in the state.
Association president C.S. Shadakshari reportedly said the review committee has already visited Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana where NPS was revoked and OPS re-implemented. The committee is yet to submit its report, but has told the government it will do so soon.
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Shadakshari allegedly said NPS has been in force in Karnataka since 2006. He pointed out that West Bengal never adopted the scheme, while Andhra Pradesh and Telangana replaced NPS with a contributory pension model.
States including Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Jharkhand have already scrapped NPS through cabinet decisions or budget announcements.
“Under NPS, 10% of the employees’ basic salary and DA, and 14% contribution from the state is credited to the employees’ fund. It constitutes 24% of the total which is non-withdrawable. This is invested in the share market and the final amount depends on the ups and downs of the market,” TNIE quoted Shadakshar as saying.
As per the report, he said that by limiting its contribution to 14%, the government could save up to ₹1.87 lakh crore annually if all vacancies are filled, strengthening the case for bringing back the old pension system.
