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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LIVE | Election Results of five states 2026
New Delhi: The countdown has begun for the counting of votes for the Assembly elections in five states that have captured the attention of people across the country.
The counting of votes for the Assembly constituencies of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and the Union Territory of Puducherry will begin simultaneously at 8 am, and the fate of candidates in a total of 824 constituencies will be decided shortly.
The counting of postal ballots will take place first, followed by the counting of EVM votes in several rounds.
- Bhupen Borah, who recently left Congress and joined the BJP, is leading in Assam’s Bihpuria constituency
- Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma is leading in Jalukabari constituency
- BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari is leading in West Bengal’s Nandigram constituencyFive-state elections: Postal vote counting begins
- TMC, BJP lead in one seat each in West Bengal
- In Tamil Nadu, DMK leads in 3 constituencies, while TVK leads in 1
- UDF leads in 5 seats in Kerala, BJP in 1, LDF in 1
- BJP leads in 2 seats, AIUDF in 1 in Assam
- AINRC leads in 1 constituency in Puducherry
- TMC leads in 5 seats in West Bengal; Mamata Banerjee’s party maintains initial lead
- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin leads in Kolathur
- BJP takes early lead in Assam
- Congress-led UDF leads in Kerala
- In Tamil Nadu, TVK chief Vijay leads in the Perambur constituency, lags in Tiruchirappalli South
- BJP leads in 10 seats in Assam
- LDF candidate V.P.P. Mustafa leads in the Thrikkaripur Assembly constituency
- Out of 294 seats in West Bengal, BJP is leading in 14 seats, TMC in 12 seats, Congress in 2 seats
- Out of 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, DMK is leading in 15 seats, AIADMK is leading in 5 seats, TVK is leading in 2 seats
- Out of 126 seats in Assam, BJP is leading in 31 seats, Congress in 4 seats, AIUDF in 2 seats.
- Out of 30 seats in Puducherry, NRC+ is leading in 3 seats, Congress in 2 seats, TVK in 1 seat.
- Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury suffers a setback in theBerhampore constituency in West Bengal.
