Councillors representing the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a walkout during the general body meeting of the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) here on Saturday following a heated exchange with the ruling party members over a report published in a newspaper.
Reference to a report published in “a yellow paper” by BJP councillor Vasanthi Shetty while discussing the issue of increase in the number of petty shops in the CMC jurisdiction triggered a war of words between the BJP and the ruling Congress councillors.
Congress councillor Ramesh Kanchan urged Ms. Shetty to name the newspaper and wanted to know what her definition of “yellow newspaper” was. Ms. Shetty, in response, said that the term was generally used for evening newspapers. But Mr. Kanchan said that either Ms. Shetty should name the evening newspaper or apologise.
Angry BJP members came to the well of the House demanding a ruling on the issue from the chair. CMC president P. Yuvaraj tried to pacify the BJP members, but did not succeed. The BJP councillors then staged a walkout.
Earlier, Mr. Kanchan demanded to know how many petty shops had been issued permits after the Congress came to power in the CMC. Mr. Yuvaraj, in reply, said that two physically challenged persons had been granted permits to set up shops. Prashanth Bhat (Congress) said that 80 per cent of the petty shops that were operating in Udupi had been given permits during the previous Council.
Pramod Madhwaraj, MLA, told the council that he had urged the government to release Rs. 10 crore for Paryaya festival.
