Speakers give lit fest a miss

At least eight main speakers did not turn up for the Kannada Sahitya Sammelana on Saturday.

The absentees include literary stalwart S L Bhyrappa, former Union minister M Veerappa Moily, author Dr Premshekhar, former India pace bowler Venkatesh Prasad, scholar Veeranna Rajoor, Prof Omkar Kakade, IAS officer Nandini and author Chandrashekar Vastrad.

The organisers informed the gathering that Bhyrappa is not attending the Sammelana due to ill health. They, however, did not inform about the absence of others.

Poet Dr H R Sujatha, who was to preside over a poets' meet, did not attend the literary meet. She has written a letter to Kannada Sahitya Parishat president Mahesh Joshi expressing her displeasure over neglecting minorities and authors from Dalit communities in the Sammelana.