'I' am a Nationalist, not Hinduist': Anant Kumar Hegde in Bengaluru

Bhatkallys News Service/ AJ Asadi Benagluru 09 Sept 2017: Newly inducted cabinet minister from Karnataka and five times MP from Uttar Kannada District Anant Kumar Hegde yesterday clarified about him being an 'Nationalist and not Hinduist'. He was speaking at the press conference in Bengaluru Party office after an felicitation event organized for him by the party's state unit for being induced in the central cabinet as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship earlier this month. The five-time MP from Uttara Kannada said he did not expect being appointed as a Union minister. “The popular notion is elections are fought on the basis of caste and money. I can say that I haven’t spent a single paisa to win an election,” he said. He further clarified that he was not inducted in to the cabinet by Party's National president Amit Shah and PM Narendra Modi for his 'Rightist mindset' as is the talk of the town. However, the minister refrained from commenting on controversial issues and only spoke about the plans of his department and new schemes that are being rolled out to enhance the developmental work by his ministry. On repeatedly being questioned about the murder of Senior Journalist Gauri Lankesh, which is being linked to the right wing organizations by the media and other institutions he said "The allegations against BJP or any of its affiliation in regards of Gauri Lankesh's murder are preconceived and it is not fair to discuss that with the investigations yet to come to a conclusion. Everyone has the Freedom of speech in this country, which can be a reason for differences between our ideologies and thinking, but we can never advocate murdering someone merely because she had differences with our ideologies and policies" he concluded. Report By: I. Zaorez Shabab