Karnataka CM wants to know why Ministers stopped at Mysuru Dasara

Karnataka’s Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has directed Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh to conduct an inquiry and submit a report on police officers restricting some Ministers from entering the venue during the Nandidhwaja Pooja held near the North Gate of Mysuru palace on October 21.

“It is evident that the officials acted high-handedly by restricting the Ministers. I personally intervened immediately to facilitate the Ministers’ entry. However, such irresponsibility from officials cannot be tolerated. Therefore, I have ordered the Chief Secretary to conduct an inquiry into who is responsible for this, and submit a report,” the Chief Minister stated. H.C. Balakrishna, P.M. Narendraswamy, and K.S. Basavantappa were the Ministers who were stopped.

The incident had drawn criticism, with the opposition BJP alleging caste prejudice. P.M. Narendraswamy, and K.S. Basavantappa belong to the Dalit community. Yet another Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi, also a Dalit, was stopped, but was allowed to go in after the Chief Minister intervened.

‘Don’t give caste dimension’

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara has said it is inappropriate to give a caste dimension to incidents arising during the enforcement of security and protocol.

He said the Chief Minister has a prescribed protocol that the police are required to enforce strictly, particularly during events involving huge crowds where security arrangements have to be closely followed.

“Although the Ministers were initially stopped while the Chief Minister moved ahead, the Chief Minister later returned and took them along. The police were performing their duty. There is no need to create an unnecessary controversy over the matter,” he said.

Objecting to the repeated use of the expression ‘Dalit Ministers’ in relation to the incident, Dr. Parameshwara asked why they could not simply be referred to as Ministers. “Should every individual be identified by their caste? Are Ministers belonging to other communities referred to by their caste?”

He further said, “I am not saying there were no lapses. Such mistakes can happen. But it is not appropriate to turn such minor lapses into a major controversy.”

Privilege motion

Meanwhile, irked by the police restrictions at the venue of Nandidhwaja Pooja, BJP MLA T.S. Srivatsa, who represents Krishnaraja assembly constituency under whose purview the Mysuru Palace falls, has threatened to initiate a privilege motion in the Legislative Assembly after he was denied entry to the enclosure created for the Nandidhwaja Pooja.

He said he would write to the Assembly Speaker G.S. Patil about the denial of his right to shower petals on the Nandidhwaja in his own constituency. The matter will be raised in the next Legislature session in Belagavi, he said.

When Mr. Srivatsa brought the matter to the notice of a senior police official present at the spot, IPS officer C.B. Ryshyant said the police had created different layers of security enclosures around the Nandidhwaja for the pooja. Instructions had been received to allow only the Chief Minister and the Minister in-charge of the district Yathindra Siddaramaiah into the inner-most ring while the subsequent layers of enclosure were reserved for Ministers and MLAs.

Most of the MLAs stood outside the innermost enclosure and watched Mr. Shivakumar carry out the rituals at the designated spot for Nandidhwaja pooja near the Kote Anjaneyaswamy Temple, situated just outside the North Gate of Mysuru Palace.

Published – October 22, 2026 02:57 pm IST