Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Feb 7: Kaup MLA Lalaji R Mendon challenged former state minister Vasant Salian to seek resignations from top Congress leaders, for their involvement with the establishment of Udupi Power Corporation Ltd (UPCL) at Nandikoor near Padubidri. He was responding to Salian’s demand for the fomer’s resignation relating to the issue.

“I continue to oppose UPCL. Criminal proceedings registered against me and BJP activists relating to the agitation against UPCL were also taken up by court on Monday. Vasant Salian, instead of bothering me, seek clear stand of influential national level Congress leaders, Veerappa Moily, Oscar Fernandes, etc on UPCL. If this is not possible, he should pressurize them to resign,” Mendon suggested.

Mendon said he had raised written questions in assembly relating to UPCL and obtained answers. “I continue to raise the topic of UPCL and discuss environmental hazards with officials. The company will stop power generation temporarily from February 9 onwards for finalizing the work of drift eliminators to do away with the problems created by saline water,” Lalaji added.  He recalled that former Chief Minister, H D Kumaraswamy, who had sent about 150 delegates to Visakhapatnam for studying the thermal power plant there, had later rejected the report of this delegation and permitted UPCL to set foot here.

BJP spokesperson, Nagaraja Shetty Kujoor, said that UPCL could not have come into being if Congress leaders including Vasant Salian had raised their voices at the initial stages. He accused Salian of donning just the role of a guest during agitations against UPCL.