BJP MPs Nalin Kumar Kateel, Anant Kumar Hegde delete controversial tweets regarding Godse
Party seeks explanation in 10 days
Bengaluru: A day after Dakshina Kannada MP and BJP leader Nalin Kumar Kateel posted a controversial tweet against former PM Rajiv Gandhi indirectly supporting Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse, the BJP MP has taken down the tweet from his official handle.
In the tweet, Kateel had added “Nathuram Godse killed one, Ajmal Kasab killed 72 and Rajiv Gandhi killed 17000. You decide who was more brutal murderer among the three”.
Another BJP leader and union minister had also tweeted supporting Godse and wrote “Seven decades later, the condemned were being heard”. He too deleted his tweet from his timeline.
Shortly after deleting the tweet, Hegde posted that his account was allegedly hacked and that there is no question of justifying Gandhi ji’s murder.
Shortly afterwards, he deleted the tweet and posted: "My Twitter account has been breached twice in the past one week and certain tweets have been posted on my timeline which has been discarded and deleted. Regret the posts attributed to me."
"Am glad that 7 decades later today's generation debates in a changed perceptional environment and gives good scope for the condemned to be heard upon. #NathuramGodse would have finally felt happy with this debate!" Hegde had earlier posted.
BJP on the other hand has distanced itself from the statements of both Hegde and Kateel and party president Amit Shah has asked them to explain remarks in 10 days, according to a report published in NDTV.
Earlier yesterday, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, triggered the debate after calling Nathuram Godse “a patriot”. She later apologized for her remarks.
My account was hacked since yesterday. There is no question of justifying Gandhi ji's murder. There can be no sympathy or justification of Gandhi ji's murder. We all have full respect for Gandhi ji's contribution to the nation.
— Chowkidar Anantkumar Hegde (@AnantkumarH) May 17, 2019
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Veteran Congress leader Shamanuru Shivashankarappa laid to rest with full state honours
Bengaluru (PTI): Veteran Congress leader Shamanuru Shivashankarappa was laid to rest with full state honours on Monday.
The 94-year-old former minister, who passed away at a private hospital in Bengaluru on Sunday, was cremated at the Kalleshwara Mill premises, following Veerashaiva-Lingayat traditions.
Earlier in the day, Shivashankarappa's mortal remains were brought to his native Davanagere, where they were kept at the high school grounds for the public, his followers, and well-wishers to pay their last respects.
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Expressing deep sorrow over his demise, the Karnataka government ordered that his last rites be performed with full state honours.
Both the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Council also mourned his passing, adjourning their sessions for the day after paying tributes.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, several ministers, opposition leaders, legislators, and political figures paid their respects.
A number of seers from the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community also attended the last rites.
Shivashankarappa represented the Davanagere South Assembly constituency. He had been undergoing treatment at the hospital for some time before succumbing to age-related ailments.
The senior-most legislator in Karnataka, Shivashankarappa, was also one of the longest-serving lawmakers in the country, sources said.
He is survived by three sons, including S S Mallikarjun, the Karnataka Minister for Mines, Geology, and Horticulture, and four daughters. His daughter-in-law, Prabha Mallikarjun, is the Member of Parliament from Davanagere.
A six-time MLA, Shivashankarappa also served as a minister and an MP.
He was a prominent educationist, establishing several educational institutions, and was an industrialist.
Additionally, he served as the treasurer of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) for decades and was the president of the All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha, the apex body of the influential Veerashaiva-Lingayat community.
