Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Anantkumar Hegde claimed he had received a threat call early on Sunday morning. The incident comes days after he alleged an attempt was made on his life when he was travelling by road in Haveri district.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, Hegde claimed at 2.30am on Sunday, a caller speaking in Kannada threatened to 'chop him to pieces'. Hegde added that he had filed a complaint at the Sirsi New Market Police station. In further tweets, Hegde claimed he didn't expect any action from the Congress government in the state, which he alleged wanted to “please Jihadi forces at any cost.”
I am used to receiving threatening calls for a long time now. Last night around 2.30am, on my landline, I received couple of blank calls before the third call started abusing & threatening to chop me to pieces, before I disconnected the call. The caller was speaking in Kannada.
— Anantkumar Hegde (@AnantkumarH) April 22, 2018
On April 18, Hegde alleged an attempt was made on his life when a police escort car in his convoy was hit by a truck in Ranebennur in Haveri. While Hegde and the BJP initially sought to publicise the incident, the minister cancelled a press conference on the incident after it emerged the truck in question was owned by the brother of a BJP official.
Hegde has been known for his hardline Hindutva views. In December, Parliament was briefly disrupted after MPs protested remarks by Hegde on amending the Constitution to remove the word secular. In March 2016, Hegde claimed in a press conference, “Till the time Islam exists in the world, no one can stop terrorism.”
(With ANI inputs)