Obama may miss it but BSY won't

Bangalore, Jul 7: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddiyurappa will visit US during the last week of August 2008. He will be the chief guest in Fifth World Kannada Convention to be held in Chicago from Aug 29 to 31. It shall be the first overseas trip for Yedi after he was sworn-in as the CM of Karnataka. The Karnataka event in US is hosted by Associations of Kannada Kootas of America (AKKA).

The organizers of the convention are extremely happy that for the first time a Chief Minister from their mother land has accepted the invitation and gracing the prestigious Karnataka community event, said Shivamurthy Keelara the convener of WKC-5.

The hosts would have been elated only if their invitation was accepted by the Presidential aspirant Barack Obama too. Obama is the Democrat senator from the State of Illinois. Obama who is in the race for white House is preoccupied with the election campaign during Aug- Nov and as such he is unable to be there said AKKA office bearers. However, the Illinois State Government officials have extended its support to the Karnataka event held in their City.

Illinois government soon will be opening its Bangalore office to promote business, commerce and cultural exchange between Windy city and the Silicon City. A MoU to this effect shall be arrived soon said Keelara in a news conference here today.

Ramesh Gowda president of AKKA, Amarnath Gowda President AKKA charitable trust, M Krishna Murthy WKC-5 India Coordinator and Sampat Lakshman finance committee chairman were present in the news conference.

Associations of Kannada Kootas of America (AKKA) is a cultural not- for- profit organization and it represents the Kannada speaking people who are settled in USA and Canada. AKKA is celebrating 10th anniversary this year. Currently there are 32 Kannada organizations and more than 70,000 Kannadigas from US and Canada are members of AKKA.

Prior to Chicago conference AKKA has conducted 4 World Kannada Conferences across US of A. (2000-Houston, 2002-Detroit, 2004-Orlando, 2006- Baltimore) bringing Kannadigas from various parts of the world under one roof. These biennial conferences cohering the Kannada community by periodically brining together long parted friends and schoolmates. And what is more, AKKA has also generated a great deal of interest and excitement in the Karnataka media to become generally known there.

The list of dignitaries attending the conference includes Sam Pitroda, Captain Gopinath, renowned novelist S L Byrappa. Kannada film personalities billed to entertain the crowd include actor Upendra and his wife Priyanka, actor Puneet Rajkumar, producer Rockline Venkatesh, Film Chamber of Commerce President Dr Jayamala, Mungaru male fame Pooja Gandhi, Mukhyamantri Chandru and others.

The Karnataka government is sending a troop of artists, authors and performing artists to show case latest Kannada talents from Karnataka on the world stage. According to reports a bunch of ministers in BSY cabinet and legislators representing Congress, BJP and JDS are busy blocking tickets to Chicago. Minister for IT and BT Katta Subramanya Naidu, Minister for Road Transport, R Ashok and Labour Minister Bachhe Gowda, Water resources Minister Basavaraja Bommai, Rajyasabha member Prabhakar Kore are accompanying the Chief Minister.

Legislators who are keen on flying include Dr Sudhakar (Cong-Chintamani), Krishna Byregowda ( Cong-Byatarayanapyra), C S Putte Gowda (JDS-Chennarayapatna), Muniraju ( BJP-Dasarahalli), D B Jayachandra ( Cong-Sira), Zameer Ahmed ( JDS-Chamarajapet), Balakrishna ( JDS-Magadi), Puttaraju ( JDS-Melukote) and Cheluvaraya Swamy, close associate of former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy

Oneindia News