Vijayapura: Veteran Congress Leader and MLA Yeshwantraigouda Patil has declared that he would not only resign from the post of president of Bhimashankar Cooperative Sugar Factory but also from the post of MLA if any allegations of corruption in the factory are proved.
“I will resign from the public life itself if those people who are making allegations of corruption in the factory prove it with the documents,” he said.
He was ddressing media persons on Saturday April 23, and replying to the allegations of former MLA Ravikant Patil who had alleged misappropriation of funds and corruption in the factory. Claiming that the allegations are completely baseless and there is not an iota of fact in that, Patil challenged Ravikant to prove his claims.
“Since they have made baseless allegations against me and also have tried to defame the factory, I have filed a defamation suit against them. I have senf legal notices to them. I want them either to admit that they have given false information or face legal consequences,” he said.
Claiming that the factory is like his child which he has nurtured and dedicated more time in reviving than for the people of his constituency, he said that he will never tolerate any such baseless allegations against the cooperative factory.
“I had promised the people of Indi that if they elected me then I would put every effort into reviving the factory which never took off decades ago after initial investment. I took it as a challenge and got the factory revived. Today it is one of the best cooperative sugar factories of the State which is giving highest money to sugarcane farmers,'” he claimed.
He said that despite facing all odds, he has ensured that the factory operates without break and continues to serve farmers of this region.
“We are paying huge loan and interest every year to the banks as we have borrowed money to run the factory. Yet, we have made sure that we repay the loan promptly. It is our commitment to the people of Indi that we will run the factory as it was their dream,” he asserted.
Wondering where all those people were when the factory was in the defunct state, he asked why Ravikant made no efforts to revive it when he was the MLA of Indi for three terms.
