Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy can brand himself ‘proud Kannadiga’. Because, he is going to be the first Kannadiga to launch a TV channel in Karnataka.

The CM, who has named the channel as Kasturi, is all set to make the services available for viewers from August 27. But, on August 18, there will be a mega cultural event to mark the launch of the channel.

Film personalities including Amitabh Bachchan, Chiranjeevi and Rajnikanth have been invited as special guests for the cultural programme, to be organised at Palace Grounds. “Rajnikanth has accepted the invitation. We are yet to get a reply from Amitabh Bachchan and Chiranjeevi”, Mr Kumaraswamy said on Tuesday.

He said a group of artistes from Australia and Canada will be dancing for Kannada songs. The cultural programmes will be for at least five hours from 6 pm.

At least two lakh people are expected to witness the cultural extravaganza, he added.  He said, “the channel will be managed by my wife Anita, who is an engineer. It is our dream project. And, it is a business proposal. Hence, we will not allow it to become a channel of any political party, including the JD (S). I am not going to be involved in day to day affair of the channel. There will be three news bulletins everyday and the rest would be entertainment programmes. I will be the first Kannadiga to launch a TV channel. It is going to be different than other channels. Already, we have obtained rights to telecast around 250 movies”.

The Office of the channel is coming up at a building on Kasturba Road.