S L Bhyrappa to open Mysuru Dasara

Award-winning Kannada writer S L Bhyrappa has been chosen to inaugurate the popular Mysuru Dasara festival, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced here on Wednesday.

In view of the prevailing flood and drought situation, the Mysuru Dasara will be held as per tradition without excessive expenditure, Yediyurappa said at a high-level committee meeting he chaired to review preparations for the festival.

The Mysuru Dasara, hailed as Nada Habba, is Karnataka's flagship cultural extravaganza, a tradition that Raja Wadiyar I, the ninth ruler of the erstwhile Mysuru kingdom, is believed to have started in 1610.

The festival, scheduled to be held from September 29 to October 8, will be organized at a cost of ₹20.5 crore, Yediyurappa told reporters. "The amount will be released immediately," he said.

"The festival, which attracts visitors from all over the world, will happen just the way it has been held in the past," Yeddyurappa said, when asked if the Mysuru Dasara will be made austere in view of the flood situation.

Yediyurappa has directed the authorities to scale down the festival by prioritizing homegrown talent. "I've said that there are many talented artists in Karnataka, so we shouldn't burden ourselves by inviting those from outside," he said. Last year, the Mysuru Dasara was celebrated with the government spending ₹17.83 crore.

Mysore-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha, Chamarajanagar MP V Sreenivasa Prasad, legislators Tanveer Sait, SA Ramdas, N Mahesh, Yathindra, L Nagendra, S Nagaraj among others attended the high-level committee meeting. The writer has thanked the government for its gesture.

Last year, Dasara was inaugurated by Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty, while in 2017, it was opened by poet K S Nissar Ahmed.