JOIN USFormer minister B L Shankar was on Wednesday unanimously elected the president of the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat (CKP).
His term is three years. This is the second time he is becoming the president. A total of 14 other office bearers for various positions were also unanimously elected.
The CKP, the premier art teaching institute with an art gallery, was under an administrator’s regime for the last four years as elections were not held.
Shankar said his priority would be to restore the prestige of the Parishat by developing it on the lines of Shantiniketan in Kolkata.
“The government has sanctioned three acres of land in Rajarajeshwari Nagar to construct a building for the college of fine arts, which is now housed in the Parishat premises. A lot depends on the availability of funds,” he said.
Once the CKP campus on Kumara Krupa Road becomes independent of the college, more art-related activities can be conducted there, he said. The CKP Trust is headed by former union minister S M Krishna.