more-in Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj H.K. Patil met Sri Siddhalinga Swami of Tontadarya Mutt in Gadag on Saturday and remained closeted with him for close to an hour. Mr. Patil’s visit to the mutt comes close on the heels of four of the six petitioners of a PIL pertaining to Kappatagudda making allegations that they were hoodwinked by agents of a mining company on the pretext of getting them their land and the seer’s anguish over the government’s delay in taking a decision on Kappatagudda. However, speaking to presspersons after the closed-door meeting, Mr. Patil, who is also the district in-charge Minister, asked media persons not to attach much importance to the meeting. Mr. Patil said he had always been taking the seer’s guidance on issues concerning language, land and water and on issues concerning Kappatagudda. Saturday’s meeting was no different, the Minister said. Sri Siddhalinga Swami, who subsequently held a press conference on the mutt premises, told presspersons that he informed the Minister about agents of a mining company hoodwinking commoners into filing PIL objecting to give conservation reserve tag. “We told the Minister that including him (Mr. Patil) all the MLAs, MPs, opposition party leaders, and gram panchayats were unanimously supporting the cause and only 1% of the people were opposing granting conservation reserve status. We urged him to take steps to convince the court through effective arguments by government advocates on the need to declare Kappatagudda as a conservation reserve and subsequently issue a notification at the earliest,” he said. The seer said efforts were also on to convince the two remaining petitioners to withdraw the PIL that has become a hurdle in issuing the final notification on Kappatagudda.

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