Karnataka’s Minister for Forests, R Shankar ended up in an embarrassing situation after he garlanded a newly installed statue of Sir M Visvesvaraya but had no idea about whose statue it was.
On Friday, R Shankar was in Muddenahalli of Chikkaballapura district, the birthplace of Bharat Ratna Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya after the locals wanted the Minister to visit the memorial. The minister visited the memorial and paid his respects to the M Visvesvaraya and statue.
The video of this incident has gone viral in which the Minister while speaking to the media looked confused and failed to tell whose statue it was after he spoke about garlanding the statue. He was caught in an embarrassing situation and was seen asking one of his assistants about whose statue it was.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yywyMLXTSYk?start=126]
Source: News18 Kannada
Shankar was at Chikkaballapur for a review meeting and later went to check the progress of Visvesvaraya Institute of Advanced Technology. After the incident, the forest officials reportedly tried to downplay it and said that the Minister was aware of whose statue it was and was only just confirming.
BJP in Karnataka has taken it as an opportunity to recall an incident where Congress president Rahul Gandhi had failed to pronounce the name of M Vishvesvaraya.
.@INCIndia National president cannot pronounce the name of Sir M Vishweshvaraya & MLA’s of his govt in the state don’t know who Sir M Vishweshvaraya is.
The problem with Congress is they just don’t recognise anyone beyond Gandhi Family. https://t.co/wtwi1sl5WT
— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) September 29, 2018
Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya is considered to be one of India’s greatest engineers. He was one of the first recipients of the country’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 1955. He had worked as a Diwan of Mysore state and also credited to have planned and built many cities of Mysore province including the present Mysuru city. His birth anniversary is celebrated as Engineers’ Day in the country.
