Congress councillor suspended over anti-party activities

Mangaluru: A Congress councillor, Ravichandra Gatti had released a video during the 2020 lockdown suggesting people to drink rum with pepper and two half boiled omelettes to drive Corona Virus away. This video had gone viral across Karnataka and brought the people some laughs during the lockdown, but now he has been suspended from Congress for "anti-party activities".

Although he wanted to party with booze and omelettes during the treacherous first lockdown, the Congress party didn't take it kindly two years later as he was suspended from the party on 6 December. In the video, Gatti was seen in a partially inebriated state holding a bottle of rum and saying in Kannada, "Add one spoon of pepper powder to 90 ml of rum, stir it with your finger and drink it along with two half-boiled omelettes that are sprinkled with pepper. Corona will be gone. This is my medicine. I don't know about the opinions of doctors regarding this matter, but this medicine is my solution for corona. I might be an important person in the state but now, I am a citizen of the country and a member of the Corona Committee. This is my message to you."

Gatti was also famous for holding a bottle of Old Monk rum while calling it Khodays rum. Back in 2020, this video received objections for giving wrong information and influencing impressionable minds to try out what he suggested. It is also to be noted that the first lockdown was a time when liquor was hard to come by as the whole Nation was under a stringent lockdown.

Ravichandra Gatti was a councillor in the Ullal municipality area of Dakshina Kannada district. On Tuesday, the Ullal Block Congress Committee President Sadashiva Ullal announced that Gatti's primary membership in the party has been suspended.

According to sources, Gatti would attend public gatherings in a drunk state and wouldn't dress in a presentable fashion. Although he was nominated to the panel, he is alleged to being absent in standing committee meetings. He has also been accused of giving anti-party statements to the media.