Bengaluru, Dec 11 (IANS): In a rare gesture, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Govind M. Karjol took to Twitter to disclose that he deposited a 140-gram golden crown, that was gifted to him by his villagers, to the state chief secretary as state property.

Last month, the Dy. CM received a 140-gram gold crown from his residents of Karjol village in Vijayapura district, which is 506 kms from the technology hub.

The Dy. CM Karjol hails from this village and residents of this village had decided to honour him for his contributions to the village.

According to his three-part tweet Karjol said his native people felicitated him and gave him a 140-gram golden crown.

"I am greatly indebted to their love and respect they showered upon me. My people from my village in love and appreciation for my work as MLA presented me this golden crown and they see me as one of their own family members. They gave me this crown, but this honour truly belongs to this state. Their love in the form of golden crown must be property of this state and not mine," he said while handing over the crown to Karnataka chief secretary, T. M. Vijyabhaskar.

He added that he received this gift from his people on November 23.

"Their love, respect and faith should belong to the government. Whatever I did as MLA, Minister or as Deputy Chief Minister, to my people it was through this government. Therefore, this crown should be here," he said.

Erstwhile, Janata Parivar leader, Govind Karjol, was identified and groomed by then Janata Parivar leader and chief minister, Ramakrishna Hegde. After the Janata Parivar split this five-term member legislator from Mudhol constituency joined BJP in 2004 and since then he has risen to prominent posts in this party.

The soft-spoken Dalit leader, was deputy Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly from May 2018 to July 2019 and now he is serving as Deputy Chief minister, in the Karnataka Chief Minister, B. S. Yediyurappa.