District in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai on Tuesday took on Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha Member Nalin Kumar and wanted the MP to speed up various pending development projects in the constituency.
Without naming Mr. Nalin, Mr. Rai took a dig at the “No. 1 MP” title conferred upon him by a vernacular daily and said no one knows the basis on which the MP had been chosen for the Numero One position.
Rs. 26 crore has been released for construction of service roads between B.C. Road and Surathkal (Port Connectivity project). The MP has to speed up the work, without which people are unwilling to pay the toll.
Similarly, the Road Under Bridge on Padil-Bajal Road is going in a slow pace. The region is in need of an IIT, a world class Railway Station, central University, full-fledged passport office and much more. There are MPs from the coastal region without ‘numbers,’ —Shobha Karandlaje and D.V. Sadananda Gowda. Let them join hands with the No. 1 MP to get these projects to the region, Mr. Rai said.
"It is not enough to blame the State Government for every possible reason, the MP too has responsibilities and let him discharge the same. He would visit the project sites just like visiting temples," Mr. Rai chided.
BJP, be it at the State level, or at the National level, is known for publicity gimmicks and the MP is getting felicitated by his own men, Mr. Rai continued his onslaught.
On the delay in renovation of Town Hall in Mangaluri, Mr. Rai blamed it on the ‘officer with integrity,’ the recently transferred Mangaluru City Corporation Commissioner Hepsiba Rani Korlapati. The officer did not allow movement of files, he said.
