Karwar: Minister for Fisheries, and Science and Technology Anand Asnotikar on Sunday threatened to quit the Cabinet and sit on dharna in front of the house of the Chief Minister, if the State government tried to deprive Karwar of a medical college.

Mr. Asnotikar, who called a meeting of the various organisations, members of the Medical College Action Committee, and trade unions here on Sunday, warned the district in-charge Minister Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri to desist from shifting the college from Karwar.

Mr. Asnotikar said last week the Cabinet sanctioned seven medical colleges in seven districts.

He blamed Mr. Kageri for keeping Uttara Kannada out of the list.

He said Mr. Kageri, who is the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, was trying to shift the medical college from Karwar to his home constituency of Sirsi.

The move was met with the stiff resistance from the various organisations in Karwar. This had halted the process of sanctioning the medical college to Karwar.

Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar had reportedly said after the Cabinet meeting in Gulbarga last week that the fight between the people of Sirsi and Karwar led to the delay in the decision of sanction of the medical college to the district.

As elections are round the corner, both Mr. Asnotikar and Mr. Kageri are under pressure to get the medical college sanctioned to their respective constituencies.

On Sunday, Mr. Asnotikar said he would resign from the Cabinet if the Medical Education Department failed to sanction the medical college to Karwar on October 25, when the meeting of the higher officials of the department would be held to decide on the matter.

Mr. Asnotikar said he had spoken to Medical Education Minister S.A. Ramdas in this regard. Mr. Asnotikar said he would quit now itself if the people gathered in the meeting asked him to do so. But the leaders of various organisations present in the meeting dissuaded him from doing so.

Madhav Naik, president of Janashakthi Vedike, asked Mr. Asnotikar not to resign as only four months were left for the election.

Source: The Hindu