Pic: Chief minister Siddaramaiah inaugurated a cycling velodrome in Vijayapura on FridayVijayapura: CM Siddaramaiah assured a full-fledged govt medical college for Vijayapura and asserted that the plan of the public private partnership (PPP) model, floated by the previous govt, will be dropped.Participating in the inauguration and foundation stone-laying ceremony of various projects here on Friday, he made this statement in response to the over 100 days’ agitation by activists demanding the govt medical college instead of giving it to a private medical college.Siddaramaiah expressed gratitude to the people for their blessings, which enabled him to break Devaraj Urs’ record of serving as chief minister for 7 years and 239 days, making him the longest-serving CM of the state.He noted that winning 6 out of 8 assembly constituencies in Vijayapura was crucial, and this showed the wholehearted support of the Vijayapura people. “Projects worth over Rs 800 crore have been launched in Vijayapura district, with Rs 82 crore for inaugurations and over Rs 730 crore for laying foundation stones. The Rani Chennamma statue was inaugurated, and a bus station was named after Kittur Rani Chennamma,” he added.He further said, “The first velodrome in South India has been established for cyclists in the region. We will establish a govt medical college here, which the previous govt considered under the PPP model. There are 71 medical colleges in the state, including 22 govt medical colleges, and trauma centres and super-speciality hospitals will be set up in other districts,” he assured.Responding to requests from Vijayapura City MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal, the CM said that the Rs 160-crore, 3-kilometre flyover from Kanakadasa Circle to Ambedkar and Shivaji Circles will be constructed.Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, Vijayapura districtminister MB Patil, ministers Shivanand Patil, Laxmi Hebbalkar, HC Mahadevappa, Ramalinga Reddy, MC Sudhakar, Bairathi Suresh, MLA Basangouda Yatnal, Vachananand Swamiji, Matoshri Yogeshwari, Abhinava Sanganabasava Shivacharya Swamiji, and others were present on the occasion.
