Udupi, Jan 22: Karnataka PCC president D K Shivakumar on Sunday said former minister Pramod Madhwaraj, who switched to BJP leaving Congress, should be defeated from wherever he contests.

Addressing a Prajadwani convention organised by the party in Udupi, he said it was Congress who made Madhwaraj a minister in his first term as legislator. However, he deceived the party though no Congress worker went along with him.

If he contests elections again from any segment in Udupi, he should be defeated, Shivakumar told Congress workers.

He said Prajadwani yatra is being held to elicit opinion from the people about the problems they face. The party had majority of MLAs in the coastal districts. However, in the last elections, the party lost miserably and this should be corrected, he said.

He alleged that the ruling BJP has scant regard for people's issues and have not kept any promises they made in their manifesto. The senior Congress leader alleged that the BJP indulged in corrupt deals during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government had not bothered to care for the families of those who died of oxygen shortage during the pandemic, he charged.

Shivakumar said people of the State are badly in need of change and the results in the coming Assembly elections will prove this.

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Bengaluru (PTI): Seven people, including three children, were killed when the compound wall of a hospital collapsed here on Wednesday, police said.

The incident occurred in the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, they added.

When the heavy rains, coupled with strong winds, battered the area, the seven victims were taking shelter near the wall, which suddenly came down crashing, police further said. All seven people were killed on the spot, they added.

According to police sources, the victims were street vendors.

Police and emergency services personnel rushed to the spot with an earthmover to bring out the bodies from the debris with the help of residents.