Udupi: Union Defence Minister Nirmala Shitharaman visited the houses of ‘Suvarna Tribhuja’ owner Chandrashekar Kotian and fisherman Damodhar Salian on Tuesday, March 26.
Chandrashekar and Damodhar were among the seven fishermen who went missing along with the boat on December 15.
Nirmala Sitharaman, who was accompanied Shobha Karandlaje met Chandrashekar’s wife Syamala and Damodhar’s wife Mohini near Malpe and consoled both of their family members at their homes.
Congress-Janata Dal (S) coalition candidate Pramod Madhwaraj, on Sunday, had alleged that the Indian Navy was responsible for the disappearance of the fishing boat. He had also said that the Navy did not conduct a proper search operation for the missing fishermen.
Hitting back at his allegations, Nirmala Sitharaman said that a responsible person should not come up with such irresponsible statements. “If he has evidence that the Navy is responsible for the missing boat, then he should hand it over to us,” she added.
Udupi MLA Raghupathy Bhat, Kaup MLA Lalaji Mendon, Sathish Kunder of Malpe Fishermen Association and police officials were also present during the Minister’s visit.
