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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England sticking with Key, McCullum and Stokes despite Ashes humbling
London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.
“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.
“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”
The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”
