While Murthy will be the chief guest, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa will preside over the inaugural function to be held at the Rani Chennamma stadium. Putting an end to rumours that Murthy may turn down the government’s invitation, the government got the invitations printed on Friday.
Theatre artiste Enagi Balappa, writer U R Ananthamurthy, Channaveera Kanavi and Chandrashekar Kambar will also be on the dais during the inauguration. Sudha Murty, wife of Narayana Murthy, who is also a Kannada writer, is also among the chief guests.
Sources in the government said that there was some hesitation on the part of the Murthys to attend to conference following opposition raised by writer Baragur Ramachandrappa. But the government convinced them to attend the event.
It is learnt that Yeddyurappa has requested Union Railway Ministers Mamata Banerjee and K H Muniyappa to run a special train from Bangalore to Belgaum to facilitate people to attend the three-day Kannada conference. If not a special train, at least extra bogies could be attached to all the trains passing through Belgaum to clear extra rush, it is said.
On a request by the Chief Minister’s office, the tourism department has booked a 62-seater chartered flight for two days to take VIPs from Bangalore to Belgaum.
Air service is available between Belgaum and Mumbai, but the facility is not available between Belgaum and Bangalore.
When contacted, Prabhakar Kore, MP and the chairman of the sub-committee for hospitality, said that he has requested Murthy to be his guest. For other delegates at least 2,000 hotel rooms are available in Belgaum city. A good number of private schools have also been converted into guesthouses.
“We have made arrangements for 42,000 people to stay in school campuses. Some of the schools are in the Cantonment area. Many people have come forward to offer homestay facility,” Kore said.
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