MP CM links Hegde's remarks to 'lack of stern action' against

BJP leader Anantkumar Hegde would not have dared to make a controversial statement on Mahatma Gandhi had the BJP taken a "stern action in time" against the party MP Pragya Singh Thakur for glorifying Nathuram Godse, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath said here on Tuesday.

Hegde, a former Union minister, had sparked a row by reportedly claiming at an event in Bengaluru that the entire freedom movement was staged with the consent and support of the British, and the independence movement led by Gandhi was a "drama".

"Had a stern action instead of showy one taken against the BJP woman MP for calling Godse a patriot twice, no one might have dared to make such a statement against Gandhiji," Nath tweeted without naming Thakur, the MP from Bhopal.

"Time has come for the BJP to clarify whether it was with the ideology of Gandhiji or Godse," he said.

As Hegde's statement caused a flutter, the Congress on Monday demanded a sedition case against him, while a red-faced BJP initiated disciplinary proceedings by serving him a show cause notice seeking an explanation.

Without naming Hegde, Nath said the statement by the BJP MP was "highly deplorable".

Thakur, who is not new to controversies, had made some remarks on Nathuram Godse in Lok Sabha in November last year, for which she later apologised.

In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, Thakur had described Godse as a patriot.