The Hindu : Karnataka News : Venue of next meet, a puzzle

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Friday, Feb 06, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Venue of next meet, a puzzle

Special Correspondent

Many districts stake claim to host the event

CHITRADURGA: Selection of the venue to host the 76th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelan has become a challenge for the executive committee of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat. The committee is scheduled to meet on Friday to decide the venue.

Of the several district units of the parishat that have staked their claim to host the event, claims of Bellary, Koppal, Haveri, Bijapur, Ramanagara and Bangalore city districts have gained political significance.

The request for holding the sammelan in Ramanagara had been pending since two years. Speaking at the 73rd sammelan at Shimoga, the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had requested the parishat to consider Ramanagara for the 74th Sammelan.

The last executive committee of the parishat unanimously selected Chitradurga for the 75th sammelan. President of the newly constituted Ramanagara district unit of the parishat B.T. Chikkaputte Gowda has urged the parishat to consider Ramanagara for the 76th sammelan.

After having organised the Hampi Utsav, Bellary is keen on holding the next sammelan, it is said, on the behest of three Ministers G. Janaradana Reddy, G. Karunakara Reddy and B. Sriramulu. The Koppal unit has requested the parishat to consider its case as it has been the newly carved out district from Raichur.

Minster for Public Works C.M. Udasi has written to the parishat in favour of Haveri citing similar reasons.

According to some former executive committee members of the parishat, problems are bound to emerge as the parishat had been reduced to the role of a middleman in passing Government funds to the reception committee of the respective sammelans.

Earlier, the parishat president used to visit the district units of the parishat that were keen on hosting the sammelan for ascertaining the viability for holding the event.

Of late, the practice had been on the wane making way for personal and political reasons in the name of Kannada and development.

The Government extends a grant of Rs. 1 crore for the sammelan to the parishat and undertakes the overall development of the district that holds the event.

Development factor has often become a political tool for the ruling party for electoral purposes and it is not new that party politics has been making its own contribution to the cultural extravaganza, they say.

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