BJP drops 6-time controversial MP Anantkumar Hegde from Lok Sabha contest. 5 times his remarks stoked row

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday released the final list of candidates for Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka. As expected, the name of six-time MP from Uttara Kannada district, Anantkumar Hegde, who often lands in soup with his controversial remarks, has been dropped.

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Instead of Hegde, the BJP fielded Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, the former speaker of Karnataka assembly from the Uttara Kannada seat. Kageri had lost assembly elections in 2023 from the Sisri constituency.

Five times Anantkumar Hegde's remarks stoked row

Hegde, known for his controversial remarks, was in the news recently for his statement wherein he called for changes in the constitution and claimed that it does not favour the Hindu religion.

“It is important for BJP to get 400 plus seats in both the houses. In that case, we will be able to make necessary amendments to the constitution. Our constitution was amended earlier to oppress the Hindu religion," Hegde was quoted as saying.

Within hours of his controversial statement, the BJP distanced itself from Hegde’s statement and said that the party has nothing to do with his ‘personal’ views.

This is not the first time Anantkumar Hegde has stirred controversy with his statements. In 2019, the senior BJP leader said that Siddaramaiah would even celebrate Kasab Jayanti in Karnataka if he was not stopped. The MP’s comments received flak from many opposition leaders, calling him an ‘irresponsible’ leader.

In 2017, Hegde had written to then Karnataka chief minister Siddaramiah, asking the government not to invite him to an event organised to celebrate the birth anniversary of Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan, calling him a ‘brutal killer’ and ‘mass rapist’. “Conveyed #KarnatakaGovt NOT to invite me to shameful event of glorifying a person known as brutal killer, wretched fanatic & mass rapist,” he had posted on X.

In 2016, Hegde, who was also then the union minister in PM Modi's first cabinet, called Islam a ‘ticking time bomb of terror’ and said that it must be eradicated. He also claimed that Shah Jahan bought the popular Taj Mahal from Hindus as it was a temple named ‘Tejo Mahalaya’.