Mysuru district in-charge minister Yathindra Siddaramaiah has rejected demands for an apology over his remarks on Mysuru Palace and the use of the ambari in the Dasara procession, maintaining that he spoke in accordance with the Mysuru Palace Acquisition Act and made no error.
Speaking to reporters in Mysuru on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah said the palace was government property and that he stood by his earlier statement. He also said there was no question of apologising because he had not done anything wrong.
“The Mysuru Palace is government property. I have not committed any mistake in this matter,” Siddaramaiah said, according to Prajavani. He added that Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar had already said he would speak to members of the erstwhile royal family, and therefore Siddaramaiah did not need to hold a separate discussion with them.
The dispute centres on the ambari and the arrangements for the government Dasara celebrations. Siddaramaiah said he had responded to a media statement by Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, who had reportedly said that the seven-day government Dasara programme would not receive the ambari. The minister said the Dasara procession, or Jamboo Savari, could not be conducted without the ambari.
Siddaramaiah also rejected the suggestion that his comments had been made inaccurately or without consideration. He said he had spoken deliberately and that some people were interpreting his remarks incorrectly and using them for political purposes.
The disagreement brings into focus the administrative relationship between the state government, the Mysuru Palace and the royal family during one of the city’s most prominent public festivals. The minister’s statement presents the issue primarily as one involving government ownership and the legal framework governing the palace. The reported position attributed to Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, meanwhile, relates to the availability of the ambari for the government’s Dasara programme.
For Mysuru, the issue is connected not only to a ceremonial object but also to the organisation of a large public event whose central procession is associated with the palace and the city’s Dasara celebrations. Siddaramaiah said the government conducts Dasara for the people and emphasised that the present administration was a government of the people.
The minister did not announce any change to the government’s Dasara programme in his remarks. He instead reiterated that his comments were correct and that an apology was unnecessary. The next stated step is Chief Minister Shivakumar’s proposed discussion with members of the erstwhile royal family, while the dispute over the ambari remains unresolved in the supplied report.
