Navy involved in disappearance of fishing boat, alleges Madhwaraj

Udupi: The Congress and JDS alliance candidate for the Lok Sabha election from the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency, Pramod Madhwaraj allegedly said that there is serious doubt about the Navy’s involvement in the disappearance of the Suvarna Tribhuja fishing boat.

Addressing the media during a press meet at the Congress Bhavan here on Sunday, March 24, Madhwaraj said that the Navy was involved in the search operations. He allegedly accused the Navy of hitting the now missing fishing boat and merely staging a drama by trying to trace the boat and close the case. “One can wonder why the boat cannot be traced even though advanced technology is available,” he allegedly said.

He then accused the Union Government, Nirmala Sitharaman and Shobha Karandlaje of cheating the fishermen regarding the missing boat. “The Union Government, as well as Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and MP Shobha Karandlaje, have failed to trace the missing boat and the seven fishermen. There hasn’t been a clue since the last three months as to what happened to the fishermen and the boat. Hence, we have a strong suspicion that they are involved in the disappearance of the boat and the fishermen,” he said.

‘Congress and JDS will work together like milk and honey, not water and oil’
Speaking about the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Pramod Madhwaraj said the Congress and JDS had held alliance meetings in Sringeri, Talikere and other constituencies of the Chikkamagaluru district. “The support received by the alliance was really tremendous. The Congress and JDS will work like milk and honey and not water and oil,” he said.

Speaking about his contesting in the election on the JDS ticket, Madhwaraj said, “Even though in this election, my symbol will be the JDS party’s, I am still in the Congress party. My symbol is that of the JDS party only because of the alliance.”

He then announced that he would file his nomination on March 25 along with minister Dr Jayamala and other alliance leaders, in a simple manner.

Regarding activist T J Abraham’s accusations against him, Madhwaraj said that his family has been a customer of the nationally owned Syndicate Bank at Malpe since they started a factory in 1960. “Surely, taking out a loan is not illegal. T J Abraham, comes only during the election time and speaks to the media against me. It is the BJP leaders who bring him to speak against me. I have filed a defamation case against him. The court of law has ordered him to pay a fine of Rs 25 lakhs for defaming me. His allegations are completely false,” he said.

G A Bawa, U R Sabhapati, M A Gafoor, Ashok Kumar Kodavoor, Prakyath Shetty, Vishwas Amin, Yathish Karkera, Satish Amin Padukere, Bharath Gundodi, Swapna Srinivas, Sowymya Harish and others were present.