Known for making controversial statements, Uttara Kannada's BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde threatened to sack all 88,000 employees of the state-owned telecom giant BSNL, calling them "anti-nationals".
The MP had made the statement at a public meeting in Kumta on Monday, a video of which has now gone viral.
Insisting that the Public Sector Unit (PSU) has become a "black spot" for the nation, Hegde said, "There are people working in the organisation, it has infrastructure, advanced technology is also available but the employees are not ready to work. In this area (Uttara Kannada) you can at least get some mobile coverage but in places like Bengaluru you don't get connectivity at all.
A report in The Print quoted him as saying that there is a lot of money that is pumped into the sector as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of a digital India. He said that the Centre is all set to bring in private players to take over the firm.
"In the coming days we will be removing all 88,000 employees and there could be more such developments,” Hegde said. "It would be like a major surgery. We have made up our mind to privatise BSNL and bring it back to order," he added.
Hegde is not new to controversies. Earlier this year, at a public event, he ridiculed Mahatma Gandhi's hunger strikes and satyagraha, and claimed India's freedom struggle was a "drama". Last year, he had appeared to praise Gandhi's killer Nathuram Godse.
The BJP leader had once called former Congress President Rahul Gandhi a "moron".
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