Siddaramaiah offering bagina to River Cauvery at KRS Dam.
Credit: DH Photo
Mysuru: Siddaramaiah became the first Chief Minister to offer bagina to River Cauvery at KRS Dam in the month of June since its construction in 1931, in Srirangapatna taluk, Mandya district, on Monday.
It is the fourth time that Siddaramaiah is offering bagina to River Cauvery as CM. It may be mentioned that BJP leader B S Yediyurappa still holds the record of offering the bagina five times.
But, like the custom followed during previous years, the CM did not offer bagina at Kabini Dam in HD Kote taluk, which is also almost full to its optimum capacity. The decision of Siddaramaiah to offer bagina at the KRS Dam and skip the ritual at Kabini has given rise to a lot of speculations about his future.
Usually, both Kabini and KRS dams reach the full capacity at the same time, and the chief minister offers bagina to the Goddess Cauvery at both the dams on the same day. But, skipping the tradition has sparked many rumours among the public, who claim political reasons behind this. The opposition party claims that he skipped Kabini to avoid any uncomfortable questions, due to the alleged illegal resorts operated on Kabini backwaters.
A few claimed that the water level of the Kabini reservoir, which is smaller compared to the KRS Dam, has been kept a few feet below the maximum level of 2284 ft, while the KRS dam has been allowed to reach the maximum level of 124.80 ft.
The custom of offering bagina started during the tenure of the late CM D Devaraja Urs in 1979.
The inflow to the KRS dam was 28,938 cusec and outflow 28,681 cusec while the dam had its full capacity of 124.8 ft, on June 30. The inflow to Kabini dam was 19,654 cuesc and outflow 30,000 cusec. The water level of the dam was 2277.21 ft against the maximum level of 2284 ft.