When former Lokayukta had to abruptly end his speech

MANGALURU

An unintentional signal by Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyas Kamath, who was in the audience, to organisers on stage, led former Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde to abruptly wrap up his speech during the programme to unveil the “I love Kudla” signage here on Sunday.

When Mr. Kamath arrived at the venue, Mr. Hegde’s speech was on. While speaking about the problems resulting from people’s greed to unethically accumulate wealth, Mr. Hegde’s attention went to the signal that Mr. Kamath made, prompting him to cut his speech short.

When Mr. Hegde told this to the organisers, former MLC Ganesh Karnik clarified that Mr. Kamath’s signal was meant to convey his refusal to come on the stage. “I asked him to come on stage, but he refused the offer. It was not directed at you, sir,” Mr. Karnik said. “But I did not realise that and thought it was meant for me. Hence, I quickly ended my speech,” Mr. Hegde replied.