Former CM and senior BJP leader S.M. Krishna writes to Nitin Gadkari, Basavaraj Bommai
Mysuru/Mandya: Close on the heels of Congress MLCs Dinesh Gooligowda and Madhu G. Madegowda demanding the 10-lane Mysuru-Bengaluru Access-Controlled Expressway after Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, former Chief Minister and Senior BJP leader S.M. Krishna has raised similar demand and has written to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
The chorus to name the Expressway after Nalwadi grew after Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha urged Gadkari to name the Expressway after River Cauvery as the River has fostered rapid economic growth in the region. Moreover, many Expressways have been named after sacred rivers like the Yamuna Expressway and the Ganga Expressway and Narmada Expressway.
In his letter dated Jan. 1, 2023, Krishna said that Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, the benevolent king, had earned the sobriquet ‘Rajarshi’ from Mahatma Gandhi for his administrative reforms and achievements.
“Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar ruled the erstwhile Mysore kingdom between 1902 to 1940 and his far-sighted policies have been etched in the minds of millions of people of Bengaluru and Mysuru even now. His achievements need to be remembered by future generations and as such, the Expressway has to be named after him,” Krishna stated.
Nalwadi took up several development projects including the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) Dam, the hydroelectric project at Shivanasamudra, the formation of Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant, Bhadravathi, K.R. Hospital, Sandalwood Oil Factory and Mysore Sugar Mill and others. These contributions led to laying a firm foundation for Karnataka’s growth after independence, the former Chief Minister said.
“Nalwadi cultivated a humanistic vision of community co-existence that shaped the Mysore culture rich in heritage and customs and there is a need to acknowledge his visionary effort,” Krishna stated.
Therefore, naming the Expressway after Nalwadi would be a great honour, he wrote.
Really Mr. SMK ? Then why did you not name the Mysore Road after the Maharaja when it was widened during your time as CM ? What was the logic when you got the BIA name changed to KIA ? What was KG’s contribution to history of Airports or Aircraft factory in Karnataka/ History ? What was KG’s connection to even Devanahalli ? Who started HAL or Jakkur Flying School etc ? Just to snub Mysore MP you people are trying to use the name of Wadiyars ! Instead stop harassing the descendants and treat them as equal citizens of the country !
Raja Chandra: Very well said!
Why take seriously the utterances of this Old Gowda Goat S M Krishna, who has been a chameleon all his life-fist in the PSP, then to Congress and now to BJP?
@RajaChandra
There need be no rhyme or reason to name anything after a famous person. It all depends on some flimsy reason to justify it. In the USA, there is Ronald Regan Washington National Airport. What did Regan achieve for this accolade except he was an oldpresident with no grasp of national /international affairs, just an actor. Then there is Dulles International Airport, Washington DC, named after John Foster Dulles, the secrtary of state under Eisenhower, who upset every world leader in his time, and was quarrelsome. John F Kennedy, did not like the Newyork city, and had no strong link to it, and yet there is JFK International Airport. With an Irish blood, one could understand if The Airport in Boston -now Logan Airport was named after JFK, as his ancestors lived in that area after migrating from Ireland.
Europeans have a matured view of things. The Rome Airport could be easily named after Michelangelo , the superb painter and sculptor, who pained the Sistine Chapel ceiling at the Vatican, an achievement and a marvel.
As for :”nstead stop harassing the descendants and treat them as equal citizens of the country “, it is people like Pramoda Devi, the wife of SD Wadiyar, who wants to catapult a womaniser with excesses like SD Wadiyar into some one great! Time she shut up and behave as normal citizen. So should her adopted son Yaduveer, who wants to behave as a Royalty, climbing the throne in a room watched by 20 people! This is democratic India, where Royalty was abolished 70+ years ago.
SMK, when he was the CM of Karnataka boasted after visiting Singapore he will turn Bangalore into Singapore of India!! When one of his cabinet members – a Keralite by name George = insulted Hindus. SMK didn’t fire him. It is a disease all Indian politicians suffer from – they talk big with little substance! Kengal Hanumanthayaa hated Mysore and the Mysore Maharajas. Another blow hard!! Whether one likes it or not, during the rule of Maharajs. the erstwhile state of Mysore progressed to the benefit of its people. One of the biggest achievement of the rule by politicians is corruption! The politicians should talk less and work more!
@My Heart Bleeds
One question to you: Did those Maharajas have independent powers?
My answer, the right answer is: NO, as British Viceroy had all the powers as British were the real rulers for the whole of India, and whatever the Wadiyars did at that time, would have had to get cleared from the British Viceroy their boss. Hence, give credit to the British.
Kengal Hanumanthaih, the most corrupt politician in his time, just after 7 tears of indeoendence, made enough cash for himswelf-crores of it through awarding contracts to his friends for the construction of Vidhana Soudha.
Yes, he hated Mysore.
But why Nalwadi Wadiyar, Jayarachamaraja Wadiyar, Srikanta Duut Wadiyar, 3 of them died in Bangalore Palace, not in Mysore Palace?
Why did 3 of them spend more months in Bangalore than in Mysore?
Hey Raja Candra
” Instead stop harassing the descendants and treat them as equal citizens of the country ”
Cut this crap and bullshit. Those descendants of Wadiyars still live in Mysore Palace, a very large building. Are they then equal citizens , comparing to people live near the area in tiny houses, most of them probably rented?
Any ordinary citizen possesses a golden throne, which he can climb during Dasara, and sit there in front of a dozen on-lookers, calling it ‘private durbar’!!
As the poster suggested, Srikanta Dutta Wadiyar was wandering around in Mysore, looking for buxom women-he had many, incuding the wife and sister-in-law of a hotelier in VV market area, that hotel was famed for its set dosas and masala dosas. Now, that ordinary citizen Pramoda Devi , the wife of this Wadiyar, wants a statue for this person ,and runs a foundation in his name, to mask all his misdeeds.
This Wadiyar died in Bangalore Palace, just like his father- not kin Mysore Palace. Intriguing to find out why-the reason!
If this highway has to be named after some one-name it after Sir MV, civil engineer par excellence ,so that it gets repaired and maintained well, as kit needs it very often. The name Sir MV gives it respectability.
Sir MV carried out the wishes of the British Viceroy/s at that time, who were the real power behind all the good things he did. Not the Wadiyar who was simply a titular ruler, as the British had the obligation to support Wadiyars, after rescuing their ancestor from the Muslim thug Tipu Sultaan.
Nothing moved , not even a straw, without the British Viceroy giving permission! Hence, stop the nonsense about any Wadiyar-they were not independent rulers.