Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (HB)

Udupi, Nov 29: Chaos erupted at the general body meeting of Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) on Saturday, November 29, after the councilors from the ruling party and the opposition got into a fight over the finances of Udupi Utsava 2013.

M R Pai, leader of the opposition, raised the issue of the accounts of Utsava 2013. Later others from the opposition joined in the arguments demanding clarification for the previous year's accounts.

P Yuvaraj, the president of CMC, had to adjourn the meeting for 10 minutes to control the situation.

It is said that Naveen Bhandary, member of the opposition, snatched the agenda sheet from the commissioner during the meeting.

Yuvaraj said that the opposition did not know how to behave with government officials and the whole issue was 'pre-planned'.

He added that opposition members have lost their moral right to speak about Udupi Utsava because they had unanimously objected to holding this fest. He said only healthy discussion would be allowed in the meeting.

The commissioner revealed that the committee earned Rs 3,50,000 profits from the previous year's Utsava. Later the amount was spent on Beach Utsava and CMC had received Rs 5 lacs from the beach development committee. The total expenditure was Rs 14,60,000.

Dinkar Shetty alleged that two cheques were dishonoured due to shortage of funds in the account.

Opposition party members held a short dharna seeking clarification on the bank accounts.

CMC vice-president Amritha Krishnamurthy tried her best to control the situation. The CMC meeting lasted for just half an hour and the heated discussion sent mixed messages to the media.