U.T. Khader, Health and Family Welfare Minister, said on Saturday that though the people of the coastal districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada did not openly participate in the State-wide bandh over the Mekedatu issue, their sympathies were very much with the project. The State government planned to build a reservoir against the Cauvery for the Mekedatu power project in Kanakapura taluk.
Replying to a question by presspersons here on whether the people of coastal districts were lukewarm to the Mekedatu project as they were given the cold shoulder in their struggle against the Yettinahole project, Mr. Khader said that the people (of the coastal districts) had opposed the Yettinahole project. But the Union Law Minister D.V. Sadanada Gowda, who was then the Chief Minister of the State, had agreed to the project, he said.
When asked the same question, Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake expressed similar sentiments. “The people of the costal districts have sympathies on all State-level issues. If not physically, they are mentally supporting the agitation for the Mekedatu power project,” he said.
