BANGALORE: The Election Code of Conduct came in the way of unveiling the 9.5 ft-tall bronze statue of Rashtra Kavi Kuvempu installed in front of the Freedom Park.Citing the violation of poll code, the cops of Upparpet police station handed over a notice on Monday morning, stating the function cannot be held. Earlier, on Sunday, the State Election Commission had issued a notice to the police, as many politicians from various political parties would participate in the event, and this might affect the bypoll, which is to be held on February 26.Bangalore Zilla Kannada Sahitya Parishat, organisers of the statue unveiling programme were shocked at this move from the Election Commission. Convener C K Range Gowda blamed the Election Commission for shooting a letter through police to stop their plan. “We are working on this programme from more than a year, and in December last year, we decided to unveil the statue of our all time favourite poet Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa, on February 20, as it is an auspicious day. We had invited many political leaders, and folk artistes from all over Karnataka for this programme, but everything was cancelled because of the EC’s orders, he added. He said a team of nearly 150 volunteers have been working on the project. The making of the statue alone cost Rs 15 lakh, and other preparations for the inauguration cost another Rs 4 lakh for the Parishat.“Everything has become a wasteful expenditure except the statue. We blame EC for this fiasco, they could have informed us earlier,” rued the convener.The list of invitees included former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, CM Sadananda Gowda, and other political stalwarts in the state as well in the city.The Parishat maintained that it had nothing to do with politics and was concerned only with Kannada and culture, hence it is still not convinced with the EC’s decision to stall the programme. The event, however, has been re-scheduled to February 27.
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