'Drop Katti for demanding statehood'

The Congress on monday demanded Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar drop Belgaum district incharge minister Umesh Katti from the Cabinet for his repeated demands for separate statehood for North Karnataka.

“The Chief Minister should drop Katti for repeatedly making statements of separate statehood for North Karnataka,” Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President G Parameshwar told reporters after meeting Shettar at his house here. Such a step would send a strong message to those giving out statements detrimental to the unity of Karnataka, he said.

Parameshwar invited Shettar to attend the inauguration of various developmental projects in his Assembly constituency, Koratagere, “I did not discuss politics with Shettar,” he said to a query. He described as an ‘eyewash’, the recent Cabinet meeting at Gulbarga, saying Shettar was aware that decisions taken there could not be implemented if the state goes to the polls in next six months.