Under fire, Shettar decides to cancel 11-day foreign trip

Hubballi: Facing flak for planning an all-expenses paid foreign trip with his family, Minister of large and medium scale industries Jagadish Shettar on Friday said that he has canceled his 11-day trip to China and London.

Speaking to reporters here in Hubballi, Shettar said that he decided not to go ahead with the 11-day visit due to flood situation in Belagavi and other parts of North Karnataka.

As per media reports, the minister and few of the department officials were planning on bringing their family along on the government-sponsored trip, from November 6 to 17.

Clarifying on the issue, Shettar said that they had been officially invited to attend an investors’ meet in China and United Kingdom.

‘I wasn’t craving for a foreign trip. Being the industries minister, it’s my duty to bring more investment to the state. The investors meet could have provided the state an opportunity but I have cancelled the same in wake of floods,” he said.

Further he informed that while the trip was sponsored by the government for him and the officials, he had proposed to bear the expenses of his wife’s ticket.