New Delhi, Aug. 11 -- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP AnantKumar Hedge stirred controversy as he called the employees of state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) "traitors". He accused the BSNL employees of not working hard enough to save the troubled telecom PSU and warned that 88,000 workers will be fired when it is privatized.

"BSNL has a system filled with traitors. I am using accurate words to describe them," said the BJP legislator while speaking virtually at an event held Monday at Kumta in Uttara Kannada district. He accused the BSNL employees of being lazy and incompetent and blamed them for the state telecom carrier's misfortune.

"The government has given money, people require services and there is infrastructure. Yet, they...