Hegde said NDA winning more than 400 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls would eventually help in mustering a similar majority in the Rajya Sabha, and coming to power in two-third of the states.
Pointing out that in the recent Rajya Sabha polls held in Karnataka, three seats were won by the Congress, while BJP got only one, the MP said that if Congress’s number increases, any Constitutional amendment made by the BJP government would not get passed in the Rajya Sabha.
Citing the example of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, he said that it was passed in the Lok Sabha and later in the Rajya Sabha “with effort”.
But several state governments did not approve it, and hence it could not be implemented, he pointed out.
“Now government plans to implement it (CAA) through an amendment.
If not, the law and order will go out of hands and anti-nationals will have a free run,” Hegde said, without explaining who the “anti-nationals” are.
“If we win more than 400 Lok Sabha seats, we can win the assembly seats. Because of this more than 20 states will come to us, and we will have two-thirds majority among the state governments. With two-thirds majority in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and among state governments — once this happens — then see how it will be,” he said.
In 2017, Hegde, the then Union Minister of State for Skill Development, had courted controversy for his comments regarding changing the Constitution.
Seeking to end the controversy that had stalled parliamentary proceedings at the time, Hegde had subsequently tendered an apology in the Lok Sabha after a nudge by the Speaker, but maintained that his statement had been distorted.
Meanwhile,the Congress accused the BJP and the RSS of having a “hidden and devious” agenda of “re-writing and destroying” the Constitution while claiming that its MP Anantkumar Hegde has said the party needs 400 seats to “change the Indian Constitution”.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed the BJP MP’s reported remark was a public declaration of the “hidden intentions” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and their “Sangh Parivar”.
