Statue diplomacy flouts poll code: Pro-Kannada outfits

Pro-Kannada organisations, that have called for a bandh in Bangalore on August 9 to protest the unveiling of an 18-year-old statue of Tamil poet Tiruvalluvar, on Wednesday petitioned the Karnataka chief electoral officer stating that the unveiling of the statue would result in violation of the election code of conduct.

A delegation of Kannada activists, led by Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha leader Vatal Nagaraj, who met the chief election officer said the August 9 unveiling comes while an election code of conduct for bypolls to five constituencies in the state scheduled for August 18 is in place. The activists have asked the Election Commission to prevent the chief ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu from unveiling the statue on August 9.

Nagaraj claimed that merely unveiling the statue, even if no political speeches are made at the event, would be a violation of the election code of conduct since the ruling BJP is aiming to woo Tamil voters for the Bangalore City Corporation elections.

“Let the two chief ministers unveil the statue anytime after August 18 then there will be no violation of the code of conduct. The Election Commission must not allow this,” Nagaraj said at the meeting with the election officials.

One of five Assembly constituencies that will go to the polls on August 18 is located in Bangalore and the Kannada activists have claimed that the unveiling of the statue will influence the polls in the Govindrajnagar constituency.

In a bid to bury nearly two decades of mistrust between Kannadigas and Tamils, the BJP government in Karnataka and the DMK government in Tamil Nadu have come up with a twin act to unveil the Tiruvalluvar statue in Bangalore and that of Kannada poet saint Sarvagna in Chennai on August 13.

Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa on Tuesday formally invited Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi to

the joint unveiling of the statue in Bangalore.

The Karnataka CM has also asked for the Tamil Nadu CM?s co-operation in resolving other contentious issues, including objections against the grant of classical language status to Kannada, raised in the Madras High Court.