Siddaramaiah's Statue Disappears In One Night Before DK Shivakumar's Visit

A statue of former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah played hide and seek in the state's Kalaburagi city for two days and one night, raising curiosity among residents and leaders over the meaning of it all.

Chief Minister DK Shivakumar is scheduled to visit this very city when some people installed the statue of Siddaramaiah after sundown, the Congress leader who Shivakumar succeeded in the state's top post.

A group of seven-eight people brought the statue at night and installed it, reportedly without taking permission from the local authorities.

Long before this, some three years ago, the spot where Siddaramaiah's statue appeared overnight, was turned into a location by the name 'Siddaramaiah Circle'. This too, was allegedly done without taking permission. People cannot simply name or rename public places as they wished without following the procedure mentioned in law.

Shivakumar will go to Kalaburagi to attend the Kalyana Karnataka Utsava celebrations. From there, he is scheduled to go towards Afzalpur.

The concrete mixture used to fix the statue was not fully dry yet

This morning, when the district officials found out about the new statue, they went to the spot and removed it immediately.

The statue built in Siddaramaiah's image bears a golden colour. The figure raises his hands as if he's waving at supporters.

The timing of the appearance of the former chief minister's statue led to a buzz over the current dynamics between Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah. Siddaramaiah had unblocked the way for the younger leader to become chief minister after months of back-and-forth with the party's leadership in Delhi.

The statue of the former chief minister standing in the middle of a city at a time when the current chief minister, who was the former's deputy at one point, could be an indication that some supporters of Siddaramaiah see only him as their big leader. They possibly tried to send a message to Shivakumar that way, political analysts said.