Sr litteratteur Hampa Nagarajaiah chosen to inaugurate this year Dasara celebrations

NT Correspondent: Mysuru Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday announced that senior Kannada litterateur Hampa Nagarajaiah will inaugurate this year's Dasara celebrations atop Chamundi Hill here on October 3. The festivities will continue till October 12. Speaking to reporters at Mandakalli airport here, the CM said an invitation will be extended to Hampa Nagarajaiah soon. He also referred to the controversy involving BJP MLA Munirathna and said ministers and leaders belonging to the Vokkaliga community had met him and sought to probe into the allegation that he had made castist remarks. ''I have asked Home minister G Parameshwara to look into this complaint,'' he said. THe CM also said he had directed the KPSC to rearrange examinations for gazetted probationary posts.

Answering a query on increasing the age limit to 33 years from the existing 27 years for recruitment of police constables, Siddaramaiah said he had asked Home Minister Parameshwara to consider the demand. The CM also held the BJP responsible for the Nagamangala violence and stone pelting incidents in Davangere during the Ganesha idol immersion. People had set up 60,000 Ganesh pandals this year across the state and barring these two incidents, almost all Ganesh idol immersion processions went off peacefully, he said.

Referring to the denotificstion scandals involving former chief ministers BS Yediyurappa and HD Kumaraswamy, he said his government has collecting the details to initiate action against them. At another function, he appealed to people living in Karnataka to.speak and promote Kannada language as it is the official language for the administration. People from other states who are settled here, must also learn Kannada and speak Kannada, he stressed.