Chief Minister Siddaramaiah denied that there was opposition to the decision to recommend the name of Vishwanath Shetty for the post of Lokayukta.
He was responding to questions from presspersons on the MSPL airstrip in Ginigera near here on Thursday, during his brief technical halt en route Gadag and Raichur districts.
When his attention was drawn to the fact that a few had taken exception to the panel recommending the name of Mr. Shetty and that he had given a false affidavit, Mr. Siddaramaiah said: “There is no opposition from anybody to this. In fact, Mr. Shetty has said that he has not submitted any false affidavit.”
With regard to setting up a tur dal procurement centre, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that it was being done and tur was being procured. The Union government has announced minimum support price of Rs. 5,050 per quintal and the State government has announced an incentive of Rs. 450 per quintal and tur is being procured at Rs. 5,500 per quintal.
Mr. Siddaramaiah did not wish to comment on the report appearing in a section of the media that he was sidelined at the Congress’s Vedana Sammelan in New Delhi stating that it was a creation of the media. However, he clarified that the party organisation was just following an established system. “Why should I feel hurt?,” he asked.
Raghavendra Hitnal and H.M. Revanna, legislators, were present.
