From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Aug 2: A bronze statue of 27 ft in height of the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, in a rare meditating pose will be unveiled in the park between Karnataka’s seat of power Vidhana Soudha and the adjacent Vikas Soudha buildings by President Pranb Mukherjee on the Gandhi Jayanti Day on October 2.
The statue being designed and chiselled by renowned sculptor and Padmashree awardee Ram V Sutar will be facing the High Court.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had laid the foundation stone for the statue related work on July 6, 2014.
A meeting presided by Siddaramaiah has decided to invite Mukkherjee for unveil the statue.
State Legislative Council Chairman D H Shankaramurthy, and Public Works Minister H C Mahadevappa attended the meeting.
The actual cost of the project, including the statue would be Rs 11 crore crore.
The Council Chairman expressed happiness over the progress of the work and said since the two secretariat buildings are 66-feet tall, the chief architect of the Public Works Department suggested installing a 27-feet statue on a 13-feet pedestal.
Kempaiah appointed Adviser to KJ George
Meanwhile, the State Government has finally appointed retired IPS officer M Kempaiah as the adviser to Home Minister K J George.
It may be recalled that the move appoint Kempaiah as the security advisor to the chief minister had to be scuttled following criticism of the move, when the news leaked out before the actual appointment.
It is said that Congress party legislators have reportedly submitted a petition to Congress in-charge of Karnataka Digvijay Singh opposing the appointment of Kempaiah.
The Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was forced to categorically state that there was no proposal before the Government to appoint Kempaiah as the adviser to the Government a couple of months ago.
This time, however, the State Government appointed the retired IPS officer as the adviser to the Home
Ministry following a string of crime cases against women, including sexual assault cases, in Bangalore and other parts of the State.
Kempaiah served as the Additional Director-General of Police and the Mysore commissioner.
He took voluntary retirement a couple of years ago.