Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)
Mangaluru, Dec 28: Vijay Kumar Shetty, president of Netravati Samrakshana Samyukta Samiti on Wednesday December 28 lashed out against minister for forests and district in-charge Ramanath Rai for resorting to 'misbehaviour' and not supporting the activists in their bid to convince chief minister to withdraw the Yettinahole project during the talks held in Bengaluru recently.
Addressing media persons here, Vijay Kumar Shetty said, "I thank the chief minister for a holding a meeting, though with undue delay, to discuss the Yettinahole project. District in-charge minister B Ramanath Rai despite being elected MLA for six terms behaved aggressively towards us at the meeting. He addressed the activists in singular. Being a senior minister, this behavior was not expected from him. Ramanath Rai and MLC Ivan D'Souza did not maintain decorum in the meeting chaired by the chief minister.
"Ramanath Rai accused us of joining hands with the BJP and politicized the meeting. Siddaramaiah is our CM and Nalin Kumar Kateel is the MP of this region. Only during elections we are opponents. In this particular issue, I will support anyone who stands against this project. Showing such behavior is uncalled for and below his dignity. This meeting was called just as an eyewash.
"I have many secrets of Ramanath Rai and if he acts up too much, I will reveal everything publicly when the time is right," he cautioned.
Former MLC Monappa Bhandary said, "Our MP Nalin Kumar Kateel had suggested forming a committee of experts from both the regions (Kolar and Dakshina Kannada), and to take necessary steps after the team studies the project in detail and submits its report. But no heed was paid to this suggestion. It seemed like this meeting was held only for its own sake."
Activist M G Hegde said, "Ramanath Rai, Ivan D'Souza, U T Khader, Mohuiddin Bava and Abhayachandra Jain acted like representatives of Kolar. Ivan D'Souza addressed Vijay Kumar Shetty in singular when the latter said that there are religious heads of Christian community who are against the project. Ivan said that Christian community is not anyone's property. I say, I do not know if he is the property of the Christian community or not, but Christian community is not his property either. During the last meeting in zilla panchayat, it was Ramanath Rai who ruined it and even this time it was him."
Harikrishna Bantwal said, "Congress leader B Janardhan Poojary had mentioned about the report on kickback of Rs 50 crore given to three ministers and the names need to be disclosed."
On being asked whether the 'secrets' of Ramanath Rai mentioned by Vijay Kumar Shetty were connected to the Yettinahole project, Shetty said it was something else and he would tell when the right time comes.