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.
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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.