Chief minister slams previous govt over selecting awardees

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday attacked the previous government for giving away state awards to people who had “influence and political connections.”

Speaking after conferring various state-level awards to the 13 winners for the year 2015 at an event organised by the Department of Kannada and Culture, Siddaramaiah said: “We are giving awards with complete transparency and only to those who are real achievers.”

He said the awards are being given away under various categories such as music, literature,  dance, arts among others.

“For choosing these winners, a separate selection committee was set up to ensure awards are given only to those who deserved them. We are ready to give funds to the Department of Kannada and Culture as our objective is to ensure development of Karnataka culture and Kannada language,” Siddaramaiah said, after congratulating winners at Ravindra Kalakshetra.

Bengaluru Development Minister K J George and Kannada and Culture Minister Umashree were among those present.

Award winners
The award winners included musicians Suresh Talwalkar (T Chowdiah National Award),  Belakawadi Rangaswamy Iyengar (Nijaguna Purandara Award), Pushpamala N (Jakanachari Award), Nemichandra (Dana Chintamani Attimmabbe Award) and R Paramashivan (Gubbi Veeranna Award).
DH News Service