Date:15/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/15/stories/2006061504130300.htm

Karnataka - Belgaum

Vedike members shave heads in protest against nominations

Staff Correspondent

`Government insulted Kannadigas by nominating MES members'

Belgaum: Kannada Rakshana Vedike activists staged a novel protest in front of the Deputy Commissioner's Office here on Wednesday.

`Anti-Kannada stance'

Ten members of the vedike shaved their heads to oppose the alleged "anti-Kannada" stance of the Janata Dal (Secular)-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government. The protest was symbolic of the Government's "insult" to Kannadigas, which nominated four members of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi to the Belgaum district APMC, PLD Bank and Taluk Agricultural Marketing Society, they said.

Rude shock

All the four members were active members of MES, which was demanding the transfer of Belgaum and other areas to Maharashtra for over four decades, they said. Yet the Government nominated the MES members, which had come as rude shock to Kannadigas.

Corporation's failure

The vedike members also protested against the failure of the Belgaum City Corporation to restore a piece of land near the first railway gate in Tilakwadi, which it had leased to a senior MES leader.