Hyderabad Karnataka Janandolana Kendra, an organisation working on issues pertaining to Hyderabad Karnataka region, has raised strong objections over the selection of speakers for the 82nd Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelan scheduled to start on Friday here.
Addressing a media conference here on Tuesday, Raghavendra Kushtagi, founder-president of the kendra, said that speakers for at least four sessions were selected for political considerations suppressing better options.
“BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Basavaraj Patil Sedam, for instance, has been selected for presiding over a session on regional imbalances and challenges of development. He was the one who ridiculed the campaign against regional imbalances,” he said.
Mr. Kushtagi said that there were better options such as Vaijanath Patil, Rajak Ustaad and Allamaprabhu Bettadur, who had an in-depth knowledge of the issue and were involved in the movement for addressing regional imbalances and had played an instrumental role in getting Article 371(J) that gave special status to Hyderabad Karnataka region.
“The irony is that those who had relentlessly fought against regional imbalances and were instrumental in getting special status to Hyderabad Karnataka region will have to sit with the audience to listen to a speech by a person who had ridiculed the movement,” he added.
Mr. Kushtagi also raised objection to the selection of BJP leader and former Minister for water resources Basavaraj Bommai for delivering a special lecture on the State’s water disputes and their solutions.
“The Union government led by the BJP is the greatest obstacle in the resolution of the State’s water disputes. Being a BJP leader, will he speak against the negative role of the Union government led by his own party? We cannot expect an objective analysis or any constructive solutions to any of the State’s water disputes from Mr. Bommai,” he said.
He said that Captain Rajarao, Krishna Kollar Kulkarni, Hanumanagowda Belagurki and Gangadhar Kustagi had great knowledge on the issue and would have been better choices.
On the session on agriculture, Mr. Kushtagi strongly objected to the selection of Kodihalli Chandrashekhar as the main speaker terming the latter as a real-estate businessman. “Kodihalli Chandrashekhar is no longer a farmer leader. He has made huge fortunes in real estate business. Having just two acres of land, he now owns a huge house worth Rs. 15 crore and a car worth Rs. 50 lakh. He has been selected as the main speaker on agriculture, after genuine farmer leaders such as Chamarasa Malipatil and Puttannaiah were sidelined,” he said.
Mr. Kushtagi also lashed at Manu Baligar, president of the Kannada Sahithya Parishat, for not giving any space for Dasa literature tradition in the literary festival despite the event being held at a place known as the cradle of the Dasa movement.
“Though the literary festival is going to be organised in the State’s border district, there is no session on the issues of Gadinada Kannadigas,” Mr. Kushtagi added.
He announced that his organisation would stage a protest at the main venue when Baraguru Ramachandrappa, president of the sammelan, delivered his speech.
