Karnataka minister garlands Sir MV's statue, asks whose it is

CHIKKABALLAPURA: Forests minister R Shankar garlanded a statue on Friday, he wasn't aware whose it was. The statue was of Sir M Visvesvaraya, one of Karnataka's tallest personalities. The incident took place at Muddenahalli, birthplace of visionary Sir M Visvesvaraya, in Chikkaballapura district.

Shankar was at Chikkaballapura for a review meeting and prior to it, he inspected the Visvesvaraya Institute of Advanced Technology, work for which ha d started during the BJP government's tenure. While returning from the site, he visited Muddenahalli and deferring to requests from locals, garlanded the newly erected statue of Sir MV.

When the media asked Shankar about his engagements in the district, he listed them but seemed confused whose statue he had garlanded. He turned to his personal staff who told him it was Visvesvaraya's.

Even as the video clip of him asking staff went viral, forest department officials sought to play it down. They claimed the minister was not ignorant about Sir MV but was trying to confirm who had sponsored the statue. Range Forest Officer, Chikkaballapura Vikram told STOI , "Shankar was in the disttrict to review programmes and following the request of local people visited the samadhi of Visvesvaraya."