Black-flag demonstration against CM Siddaramaiah, Many Arrested
Pics by Prasanna Kodavoor, Team Mangalorean
Udupi: Activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party waved black flags at Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, in Ajjarkadu on Sunday October 30, demanding to withdraw the decision made by the Cabinet to hand-over the children and women’s hospital, currently under the district hospital at Ajjarkad, to non-resident Indian businessman B R Shetty, for developing it on PPP model.
The incident took place when Chief Minister Siddaramaiah arrived at the Town Hall Ajjarkadu, activists raised slogans against the congress government and Pramod Madhwaraj. All of them were intercepted by police en route and arrested.
BJP former MLA Raghupathi Bhat said the district incharge minister had entered into a multi-crore deal with NRI to facilitate the project. Karkala MLA V Sunil Kumar (BJP) said that through this deal, the state government was snatching away the facilities available for the poor patients.
He demanded that the government invest in the development of the hospital and ensure that it remains a government institution.
MLC Kota Shrinivas Poojary, former MLA Lalaji R Mendon, BJP district president Mattar Rathnakar Hegde, BJP leaders Shreesha Nayak, Akshith Shetty Herga, Yaspal Suvarna, Gladis Almeida, Uday Kumar Shetty and others were present.