Believe in progress, not statues, says Shivakumar

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Tuesday took a dig at the previous BJP government, claiming Congress believes in progress rather than statues. He made the comments during the official 514th Kempegowda Jayanti celebrations held at the Vidhana Soudha.

The Deputy CM had been referring to the 108-foot tall, 200-tonne Kempegowda statue unveiled by then CM Basavaraj Bommai and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Bengaluru international airport premises in November last year.

“We are a people who place our trust in progress rather than statues. We desire statues but more attention should be paid to progress. We should nourish the tree Kempegowda planted with manure and water,” Shivakumar said, referring to the fact that Kempegowda was the ‘Nadaprabhu’ or founder of Bengaluru city.

The gesture had assumed importance months before the Assembly elections because Kempegowda belonged to the Vokkaliga caste, an electorally dominant community in the Old Mysuru region. As such, they are wooed by all major political players. Vokkaligas have in the past put their trust in Devgowda’s JD(S).

However, many of them voted for Congress in the previous polls as Shivakumar also emerged as a Vokkaliga mass leader. BJP, which is considered weak in Old Mysuru is also wooing the community. It is to be noted that the saffron party has made some inroads into the bitterly contested region.

Shivakumar also made a mention of another Vokkaliga icon and humanist poet Kuvempu who had the vision of Karnataka being “a garden of peace for all communities.” He also repeated the grouse that a big chunk of the taxes paid by the IT sector in Bengaluru filled the coffers of the Union government.