Efforts are being made to get Kittur Utsav declared as a State-level festival, MLA and BJP leader from Kittur Mahantesh Dodagoudar said in Belagavi on Monday. He was speaking to journalists after releasing a brochure for Kittur Utsav, scheduled for October 23 and 24.
“We are inviting Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to inaugurate the festival. We hope that he makes the announcement about the upgrade during his stay in Kittur,” he said.
Mr. Dodagoudar said that while the State Government released ₹30 lakh for each district festival, it gave amounts in the range of ₹2 crore to ₹5 crore for State-level festivals. The Hampi Utsav and Mysuru Dasara are State-level festivals. They get additional funding. “We are seeking an upgrade as we want to celebrate Kittur Utsav in a grand manner from next year,” he said.
He said that wrestling matches were cancelled for this year’s Kittur Utsav due to COVID-19 restrictions.
However, a series of cultural programmes will be presented by local artists and some famous ones from Bengaluru too. “We have organised a series of lectures on the Kittur Channamma dynasty to commemorate the 25th year of the Kittur Utsav celebrations,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner M.G. Hiremath, Assistant Director of Kannada and Culture Vidyavati Bhajantri and others were present.
