Though former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, was on a private visit to London, Dr Neeraj Patil, a contact point for the Kannadiga diaspora there, has questioned the necessity of visiting the Basavanna statue alone, without informing the office-bearers.
Former Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah was on Europe tour with his friends for 12 days. In one of the days, he visited the statue of Basavanna at Lambeth in London. Basavanna was a social reformer, and is revered by Karnataka citizens. Now the timing of Siddaramaiah's visit has led to serious controversy. Siddaramaiah is the hypocrite of the highest order, alleged Dr Neeraj Patil, who was the mayor of Lambeth.
ಲಂಡನ್ನ ಜೇಮ್ಸ್ ಪಾರ್ಕ್ನಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಅಣ್ಣ ಬಸವಣ್ಣನವರ ಪುತ್ಥಳಿ ನೋಡಿ ಕಣ್ತುಂಬಿ ಬಂತು. ನಿಜವಾದ ವಿಶ್ವಗುರು ನಮ್ಮ ಬಸವಣ್ಣ. pic.twitter.com/5gh7sG4sj4
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah)Siddaramaiah took pictures of him beside Basavanna's statue and posted it on his Twitter handle saying, "Watching Basavanna's statue brought tears into my eyes. He is the real global master."
But he visited the State at 1.15 AM, when the entire London was sleeping. Though Siddaramaiah was on a private visit, Dr Neeraj Patil, a contact point for the Kannadiga diaspora in London, has questioned the necessity of visiting the statue alone, without informing the office-bearers.
Dr Patil said that he would have invited Kannadigas to meet Siddaramaiah in London and they would have arranged for a proper welcome. But his visit at that point of time was a surprise, he said.
Further, he had also said that the BJP government in Karnataka had commissioned the installation of Basavanna statue in 2010 at Lambeth. But when Siddaramaiah came to power in 2013, he withdrew support of the government for this project.
Thus, Kannadigas in Lambeth were forced to mobilise Rs 3.5 crore to complete the project. Dr Patil also spoke about how Siddaramaiah refused to unveil the statue of Basavanna jointly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to Neeraj Patil, Siddaramaiah not only refused to oblige, but even took him to task for inviting PM Narendra Modi and said that he (Modi) was unfit to do the hunours.
Dr Patil lashed out at Siddaramaiah and said the man (Siddaramaiah) even divided the believers of Basavanna in the name of religion for political gain.
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