Mangaluru : Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha leader Vatal Nagaraj on Thursday ‘regretted’ his statement that the people in Dakshina Kannada had no humanity and said that he believed in oneness of Kannadigas.

Mr. Nagaraj, who was here to address a media conference, was confronted by presspersons who sought a clarification on his statement made during the Karnataka bandh in September last over the Mahadayi issue. While most parts of Karnataka participated in the bandh, coastal Karnataka did not take part in it, which provoked Mr. Nagaraj to make the statement.

Initially Mr. Nagaraj said he did not go deep into the Yettinahole issue. He said he was not in favour of disputes between districts in the same State. Mr. Nagaraj said he would meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah soon and urge him to convene a meeting on the Yettinahole project to find out an amicable solution. He, however, did not answer a question as to whether he would meet environmentalists in the district to get their views. Mr. Nagaraj was told that people in coastal Karnataka were not per se opposed to share water with others, but were opposed to destruction of the Western Ghats in the name of water diversion projects.

When he came out of the press conference venue, a few environmental activists, including Dinesh Holla, displayed black flags and shouted slogans against Mr. Nagaraj. However, Mr. Nagaraj was moved out safely.