Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy will lay a foundation stone for new Karnataka Bhavan-I at upmarket Chanakyapuri here on Friday.

The government had earlier decided to build new Karnataka Bhavan 'Cauvery' at a cost of Rs 81 crore by demolishing existing building.

"Since the existing building is 51 years old and New Delhi Municipal Council has certified it as unsafe to house VVIPs visiting national capital, the state government has decided to domolish it and build new one," said an official.

Previous Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah had approved the construction of new building.

For the past couple of years, the rooms in the building were not allotted to any VVIPS due to its poor condition. Even though the Governor of Karnataka had suite in it, he has been staying in a nearby Ashoka Hotel as the building was considered as unsafe, said the official. All administrative offices in the existing building will be shifted to other two Bhavans of Karnataka Government till the completion of the construction.

Earlier, there were criticisms that the state government had spent nearly Rs 10 crore to interiors for administrative offices housed in this building despite knowing that it will be demolished. However the officials defended the works saying that when interior works were taken up, there was no decision on demolition.

The then prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri laid foundation stone to Mysuru Bhavan in 1963 in the presence of Mysuru State Chief Minister S Nijaligappa. The then prime minister Indira Gandhi inaugurated it in 1967 and subsequently the building was rechristened as Karnataka Bhavan-Cauvery.