BELAGAVI: After installing a massive statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji at Rajahamsagarh to woo Marathi-speaking voters, and announcing Rs 5 crore for development of the fort, the government is now in a damage-control mode and is planning to install a 15-foot-tall statue of Jagatjyothi Basavanna in place of the old in Belgaum South constituency. This comes in the wake of protests by pro-Kannada groups.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will arrive in Belagavi on Wednesday (March 15) and lay the foundation stone for the new bronze statue of Basaveshwara, being built at a cost of Rs 20 lakh, and Rs 5 crore worth of projects including on the teachings of Basavanna and other Sharanas.
After the CM inaugurated the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue and announced grants for the Rajahamsagarh fort development recently, pro-Kannada groups had vented ire at the attempt to woo Marathi-speaking voters while ignoring great personalities of Karnataka.
Following this, the incumbent BJP government in the state seems to have gone into damage control and announced installation of a new statue of Basaveshwara and other projects.