A senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Karnataka has stirred controversy by saying that he would have ordered the police to shoot intellectuals, had he been the Union Home Minister.

Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, an MLA from Vijayapura, also branded liberals and intellectuals as 'anti-nationals'.

"These people (intellectuals) live in this country and use all the facilities for which we pay tax. Then they raise slogans against the Indian Army. Our country faces grave danger from intellectuals and seculars than anyone else. If I was Home Minister, I would have issued orders to shoot them," Yatnal said at a Kargil Vijay Diwas event here on Thursday.

Intellectuals live in this country&use all facilities for which we pay tax.Then they raise slogans against our Army.India faces grave danger from them.If I was Home Min,I would have issued orders to shoot them:Basanagouda Patil Yatna,Karnataka BJP Leader in Vijayapura (26/7/2018) pic.twitter.com/kxxGUKdSvC — ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2018

The BJP MLA had earlier courted a controversy when he told local party municipal members to not help Muslims.

Earlier a video of Yatnal directing workers to only work for Hindus and not Muslims have gone viral on social media. "I had called all corporators and have told them that they should work for Hindus and not Muslims...who have voted for me in Bijapur," Yatnal was quoted as saying in the video.

"I had said no to Muslims initially...I had instructed my people that those with topi (cap)) and burkha should not come and stand in my office or beside me," he said.

Yatnal was a BJP MLA between 1994 and 1999. Between 1999 and 2009, he served as the BJP MP from Bijapur.

Under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, Yatnal served as minister of state for Textiles and Railways between 2002 and 2004.

In 2010, Yatnal had quit the BJP to join the Janata Dal (Secular) (JD-S).

A year later, he became an independent MLC after quitting the JD(S).However, Yatnal returned to the BJP in 2013.

Earlier, journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh, who was known for her anti-Hindutva voice, was shot dead on September 5 evening when she returned home in her car and was opening the gate of her house. The murder triggered a nationwide outrage. The government had constituted the special investigation team to probe the murder.

Parashuram Waghmore, the man who confessed to killing Lankesh, has said that he killed the journalist for ‘his religion’. The 26-year-old who was picked by the SIT probing the murder claimed he didn’t know who he was killing when he allegedly pumped four bullets into the journalist in Bengaluru.

According to reports, Waghmore said: "I was told in May 2017 I had to kill someone to save my religion. I agreed. I didn't know who the victim was. Now I feel that I should have not killed the woman."

The gang involved in the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh has a wide network spread across at least five states and comprised at least 60 people, a senior police official said.

The official also claimed that the same weapon was used to shoot Lankesh, and rationalists Govind Pansare and M M Kalburgi.

Claiming that the organisation was composed of people drawn from Hindu right groups, the official said it had around 60 members spread across at least five states but had no name.

He also said though the gang recruited people from hardline Hindutva organisations like Maharashtra-based Hindu Jagruti Samiti and Sanatan Sanstha, these outfits may not be directly responsible for the killings.

Both the organisations had denied their role in the killing of Lankesh, Pansare and Kalburgi.

(With ANI inputs)