Pranab Mukherjee, who served as the 13th President (2012-17), visited Karnataka several times and inaugurated several important projects and provided assent to a couple of important bills passed by the State legislature.
During the BJP government headed by Jagadish Shettar, Mukherjee inaugurated the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, a building of the State legislature, in Belagavi on October 11, 2012. H.R. Bhardwaj was the Governor of the State then.
Pranab Mukherjee flagged off the Green Line of Namma Metro phase in Bengaluru in the presence of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, then Union Minister and current Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu and former Union Minister late Ananth Kumar on June 17, 2017. Mukherjee then said the country was lagging behind in the execution of urban infrastructure projects compared to Europe and the U.S.
He inaugurated the centenary celebrations of University of Mysore on July 27, 2015. On the same day, he also inaugurated the centenary celebrations of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry at the Banquet Hall of the State Secretariat. Chief Minister Siddaramaian, Governor Vajubhai Vala and former Union Minister M. Veerappa Moily attended the programme.
Mukherjee, who arrived on a two-day visit to the State, cut short his tour and returned to Delhi on July 27, 2015, following the death of former President APJ Abdul Kalam. Mukherjee was scheduled to attend the second convocation of Central University of Karnataka in Kalaburagi and a function at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences Bangalore on July 28, 2015.
The former President was recipient of many awards, including Bharat Ratna. He was honored with D. Litt by Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi, in 2012.
He gave his assent to two important bills passed by the State, including granting 24% reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and a bill which allowed Kambala buffalo races,, a cultural tradition in coastal parts of the State. The Siddaramaiah government passed the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2017.
