Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday directed the presiding officers of both Houses of the legislature to make the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Vidhana Soudha a low-key affair.

The chief minister's direction comes in the wake of the controversy over the legislature secretariat’s plan to organise a grand celebration for the occasion.

The chief minister directed Legislative Assembly Speaker K B Koliwad and Legislative Council Chairman D H Shankaramurthy to reduce the cost of the celebrations to Rs 10 crore, instead of Rs 26.87 crore as planned earlier. With this, the plan to gift expensive items to the lawmakers during the celebrations has been dropped.

Siddaramaiah also asked them to organise the celebrations only on October 25. The secretariat had planned a two-day event on October 25 and 26.

Make Vidhana Soudha fete a low-key affair: Siddaramaiah