Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a brief stopover at Hubballi Airport when he arrived here on a special IAF flight on his way to Davangere to participate in the Vikas Parva rally, on Sunday.
Senior IAS officer P. Manivannan, Deputy Commissioner P. Rajendra Cholan, Commissioner of Police Pandurang H. Rane, Mayor Manjula Akkur and BJP leaders welcomed the Prime Minister on the tarmac.
Mr. Modi left for Davangere by helicopter after spending a few minutes at the airport here. Arvind Bellad, MLA, Pradeep Shettar, MLC, Ms. Akkur, and BJP leader Mahesh Tenginkai met Mr. Modi and had a photo session with him.
Later, Ms. Akkur told presspersons that usually the Mayor receives the head of State during such visits. “But I was not allowed to welcome him (Mr. Modi) first. Mr. Manivannan welcomed the Prime Minister by presenting a bouquet followed by Mr. Cholan and Mr. Rane. I got the opportunity to present a bouquet later. I was made to stand fourth in the line,” she said.
However, Mr. Cholan said there were three types of protocols for official, unofficial and unofficial transit visits of the Prime Minister.
“As it was the unofficial transit visit, the list of persons to welcome the Prime Minister was finalised by the PMO and accordingly, we stood in the line. Moreover, Ms. Akkur’s name appeared last in the list of 22 people. However, she was allowed to stand fourth in the row,” Mr. Cholan said.
Meanwhile, a handful of persons, including Mansur Mutt seer Basavaraj Devaru, shouted “Go Back Modi” in protest against what they alleged the Prime Minister ignoring the plea made by farmers on the Kalasa-Banduri Nala issue before the police detained them.
