Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde rakes up ‘Rahul hybrid breed’ row again

New Delhi, Mar 11: Stepping his barbs at Congress leaders, firebrand Union Minister from Karnataka Anant Kumar Hegde on Wednesday yet again mocked Congress President Rahul Gandhi as a hybrid breed, born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother.

He said,''Congress is escalating air strike politics, Rahul Gandhi is the son of Muslim father and Christian mother and he still claims to be a Brahmin'

Hegde, 50, is Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and a BJP Lok Sabha member from the Uttara Kannada constituency, about 530 km from Bengaluru.

Hegde's reference to Rahul's father Rajiv Gandhi as a "Muslim" is because the latter's father was Feroze Gandhi, a Parsi from Gujarat. Rajiv's mother was Indira Gandhi.

Hegde's remarks that Rahul is a "Brahman" is in the backdrop of a priest at Pushkar lake in Rajasthan ahead of its state assembly elections declaring that the latter's gotra was 'Duttatreya' and he was a Kashmiri Brahmin.

Hegde has been making controversial remarks since he became minister in September 2017, with the latest being on Sunday when he said at Madikeri in the state's southwest region that "a hand that touches a Hindu girl's body should not be there".