Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday announced Rs 100 crore for setting up 'Anubhava Mantapa' at Basavakalyan in Bidar district.
Siddaramaiah made this last minute announcement in his reply to a discussion on 2018-19 state budget in the Assembly. This announcement is seen as a move to appease the Lingayat community, ahead of the Assembly elections.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi had recently visited Basavakalyan as part of his first leg of Janaashirvada Yatra. Last September, an expert committee had recommended to the government to construct the Anubhava Mantapa at an estimated cost of Rs 604 crore. The seven-member technical committee constituted by the Basavakalyan Development Board, and headed by scholar Go Ru Channabasappa had submitted the report to Siddaramaiah after holding several consultations with the public and scholars.
It had proposed a Chalukya style structure with six storeys incorporating the three main Sharana principles -- 'Shatsthala', 'Ashtavarana' and 'Panchachara'. It had also sought a 100-feet 'linga' on top of the structure.