Daijiworld Media Network - Hubballi
Hubballi, May 17: State BJP president B S Yeddyurappa on Friday May 17 strongly condemned the statements made by union minister Anant Kumar Hegde and BJP MP Nalin Kumar Kateel in support of Nathuram Godse, the killer of Mahatma Gandhi.
Soon after BJP's Bhopal candidate Pragya Singh Thakur stirred up a storm by calling Godse a 'patriot', both Hegde and Kateel too came out in her support with pro-Godse tweets, even as the BJP distanced itself from them and asked them to apologise. The party has given show-cause notices both Hegde and Kateel. All three - Thakur, Hegde and Kateel have also apologised, with Hegde going on record to claim his Twitter account was 'hacked'.
Expressing displeasure over the statements of the two Karnataka BJP MPs, Yeddyurappa told reporters here, "The statements made by Hegde and Kateel have dishonoured the party. BJP national president Amit Shah has already issued them notices and given them 10 days to respond.
"Mahatma Gandhi brought freedom to our country. Before you talk, you should understand what you are talking about. Such irresponsible statements are unnecessary," he said.
"It is not good to make such cheap statements about Mahatma Gandhi. It is unforgivable crime to speak such things. Amit Shah will take appropriate action on this. People who try to become oversmart will face action," he warned.
Nalin Kumar Kateel had compared Godse with former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi while Hegde had allegedly praised the direction in which the discourse around Godse was changing in the present time. Both of them deleted their tweets after the BJP issued notices.