K'taka: Janapada Jathre row gets complicated

Bangalore, May 14: The row over chief minister H D Kumaraswamy's pet programme Janapada Jathre (folk fair) is set to boil over even as the matter is expected to be discussed in the cabinet on Monday.

Kannada and culture minister H S Mahadev Prasad has ordered the Jathre to be halted to "restructure it and reduce expenditure." But the minister has taken exception to Jathre convener Sreenivas G Kappanna going to the media stating that "no reason has been attributed" for stopping the popular event.

"He should not have gone to the media. I am planning to call a meeting of the experts committee and decide how to restructure the programme. There were Bharatanatyam shows in the middle of folklore, I want to make it completely folk and ensure the programme doesn't get stuck in Lalbagh, but goes to other areas and districts also," Prasad told sources.

Prasad has asked Kannada and culture secretary I M Vittala Murthy to issue notices to Kappanna asking him for an explanation on why he went to the media. Kappanna said: "I am not a government employee, I am not bound by service rules. I have been selected and appointed by a high power experts committee headed by the CM himself. I represent them as the convener. I am not a salaried employee of the government."

Contending that there was need for him to explain why the Jathre was stopped, Kappanna said: "Some 10,000 people would have turned up on Saturday and Sunday, if I had not sent the press release telling them that the event has been halted. If the minister wanted to restructure, he has the right to do so, but he should have consulted the experts committee and not taken a unilateral stand and stopped the event itself."

Flashback

Kumaraswamy's pet programme, Janapada Jathre (folk fair) was inaugurated with fanfare on the evening of Oct 15, 2006. Stalls lined both sides of the pavement next to the Vidhana Soudha-Vikasa Soudha complex, both of which were lit up from within to mark the occasion. Specialities like North Karnataka's jolada rotti, Mangalore's patrode, Jamkhandi's shengai laadu were much in demand. Old Mysore region's traditional nandi kolu was already on stage, along with somana kunita, pooja and patada kunita players.

The high point of the inaugural was Kumaraswamy himself who arrived seated with home minister M P Prakash in a colourfully decorated bullock cart drawn by two black oxen.

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