Karnataka Congress demands action against Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), on Monday, filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (EC) against Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde for his defamatory remarks against Congress chief Rahul Gandhi at the party workers meeting in Karwar, recently.

The Union Minister for Skill Development is a five time MP from Uttara Kannada district in the coastal Karnataka. A video of Hegde questioning the religion of Rahul Gandhi and asking him to provide DNA proof of the caste he belongs to, had gone viral. “What is the proof that Rahul Gandhi is a Hindu? How did a person born to a Muslim father and Christian mother become a Gandhi?” Hegde had asked. The minister’s reaction was to Gandhi’s demands for proof of the IAF strike in Balakot on February 26.

The KPCC President Dinesh Gundu Rao in his complaint to the ECI submitted through the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka has said that the minister’s statement offends the dignity and privacy of an individual.


“It (the statement) is clearly calculated to prejudice the minds of the gullible voters of our country on the basis of religion and caste in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. It amounts to an offence under Section 153A and Section 295A of IPC and Section 125 of the Representation of People Act,” the complaint reads.

The State Congress has requested the election authority to initiate appropriate action against Hegde under penal laws and for violating the model code of conduct.