SoM

Bangalore, Oct 27: The State capital is abuzz with hectic activity for selection of eminent personalities for the BJP Government's first ever presentation of Rajyotsava awards.

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who also holds the Kannada and Culture portfolio, held a meeting on Sunday morning in this regard and short-listed 120 names for the awards.

Highly placed sources in the Government said there is a possibility that this number will be scaled down to 60 or 70 by Tuesday.

The Kannada and Culture Department has received about 2000 applications seeking awards and they may continue to pour in. It is expected that the number of applications will reach 2500 by the time the names of nominees will be officially announced by the end of this month, either tomorrow or on Oct. 30, it is said.

Home Minister Dr. V.S. Achar-ya, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Shobha Karandlaje, CM's Principal Secretary V.P. Baligar, Kannada and Culture Department Secretary Jayaramaraje Urs and Director Manu Baligar participated in the meeting yesterday.

The names of renowned singer and theatre artiste B. Jayashree, 'Hai Bangalore' Editor Ravi Belagere, Olympian and Youth Common Wealth Games Medal winner M.R. Poovamma, Olympic athlete Prameela Aiyappa, theatre personality Nagarajamurthy (of TV serial Muktha fame) and theatre artiste Malathi Sudhir figure in the list amongst others, it is reliably learnt.

The government is thinking of honouring Scientist S.K. Shi-vakumar, who was behind the success of Chandrayaan-1 and two other ISRO scientists, with the Rajyotsava award, it is said.

Last year, 52 eminent persons received the awards by the Governor to mark the 52nd anniversary of the State's re-organisation. But this year, no decision has been taken as yet regarding the numbers for the award.

The Chief Minister is of the opinion that he should not get into a controversy by nominating too many persons, it is learnt.